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EXPRESS AND STAR (Wolverhampton, UK) 17 January 06 Face to face with the fangs of death (John Ogden)
You can stare death - or, more usually, agony - in the face quite a lot in TV personality Mark O'Shea's new book, thanks in no small part to his expertise in photography.
Allowing the reader to be able to count all six rows of teeth in the mouth of a striking Blandings tree snake, from what looks like three inches in front of his nose, is also a valid testament to his dedication - "It took a steady hand!" - and so is his description of the pain of being bitten by the same species (on a different occasion).
The Wolverhampton-born herpetologist (reptile specialist) has vast reserves of expertise and experience, from an acclaimed career of over 30 years "in the field" world-wide, and experts and armchair naturalists alike will find Venomous Snakes Of The World equally enthralling.
The non-specialist will be particularly impressed by O'Shea's coolness when bitten, no more so than when a "canebreak" rattlesnake demonstrated its willingness to bite the hand that feeds it, striking at his wrist rather than the dead rat on offer.
The veteran of 36 TV nature films writes: "In the next five minutes I secured the snakes and locked the cage, collected the anti-venom from the fridge, and just managed to raise the alarm before the venom rendered me unconscious."
On the dash to hospital by ambulance, blinded and unable to speak, he "experienced an electrifying surge of venom, and knew if I allowed myself to become unconscious again I might never wake up."
He kept himself awake on the 20-minute ride by trying to remember the Latin names of all 32 species of rattler, and was hospitalised for nine days, "lost the feeling in my arm for several weeks, and almost lost my life."
There is no macho posing in all this; O'Shea is always embarrassed at being bitten, regarding it as being unprofessional, but over 30 years accidents are bound to happen.
The book includes a chapter on venom, "explained in simple terms, the different kinds, what they do and how they affect the body," he says.
"I also wanted to talk briefly about what I regard as a looming crisis in the world: there is going to be a shortage of anti-venom.
"The death rate at the moment from snake bites is around 40,000 people a year, especially in India, Sri Lanka, Burma and Nigeria, and with a lot of the major drug companies pulling out of anti-venom production, or producing anti-venom that is far too expensive for the Third World to buy, there is going to be a potential crisis, and the death toll could go up."
He adds: "The tsunami will have used up an awful lot of anti-venom in Asia because people are sharing the same dry spots with the snakes. I thought I should bring some attention to it."
He says: "The book has quite a lot of observations that I've never published before; things that have set me thinking about a particular snake, which no-one who hadn't got 30 years' experience could have done."
Currently half-way writing a companion volume on pythons and boas, "including various primitive snake families not many people will be aware of," he has had to divide his time in the last two months between this and doing promotional tours for the book, both here and in America (as well as dealing with the usual Press calls on topics like the two-headed rat snake, or the latest escaped alligator scare).
Among the snake-catching sticks, and other paraphernalia of his work as consultant curator of reptiles at the West Midlands Safari Park, his van currently carries a huge banner featuring the American cover of his new book, which was flown high at three major reptile shows in Los Angeles, Baltimore and Chicago.
"My US publisher, Princeton University Press, made sure I had plenty of books to autograph, and I signed my hand off," he said. "There were three separate book launches in the States, in the west and east coasts and the mid-west, and people were very complimentary.
"It was much more low-key over here, but I signed a lot of copies at a big lecture at Exeter, and there are two more coming up, entitled 'Diving with Sea Serpents,' and 'Blood, Sweat and Snakebites: The Making of O'Shea's Big Adventure.'
"I also had to sign a lot of books for people buying them as Christmas presents, and that aspect is still going well." His previous book, Reptiles and Amphibians, published by Dorling Kindersley, is also much in demand.
Though he hopes to complete the pythons and boas book by March, Mark is also preparing TV ideas, and writing the herpetological chapters for a book on threatened species called The Last And The Lost, plus reports for a conservation group.
"Obviously I included a section on conservation in my own book, and listed stuff that was really threatened and why," he says.
"I also wanted to bring in some of the really obscure snakes, even some that have only recently been discovered, so there's stuff in there that you won't find anywhere else."
Though the book features 86 of his own photographs there are around 100 equally spectacular ones from other sources.
* Venomous Snakes of the World, by Mark O'Shea (New Holland, £24.99).
Face to face with the fangs of death

Mark did a fantastic job on this book. A great addition to everyone library.

Al
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Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.
(Henry Ford)

LOL, I thought about buying the book. However, after seeing the price, I thought that it didnt cost enough to be that good...lol. Normally, the books that everyone recommends cost out the yin yang to get ahold of...so I kinda by-passed it. Looks like I will be ordering it tonight if it is that recommended!

Chris

>>Mark did a fantastic job on this book. A great addition to everyone library.
>>
>>Al
>>-----
>>Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.
>>(Henry Ford)
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U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
www.uappeal.org

It is very worth the $30 I payed for it... MIne is even signed by Mark and Dr. Warrell who wrote the "Forward"

Al
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Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.
(Henry Ford)

"My US publisher, Princeton University Press, made sure I had plenty of books to autograph, and I signed my hand off,"

Well, in Baltimore he ran out of books, and was kind enough to tell people that there was another bookseller who still had his book, and if you bought them from that dealer, he would sign them.
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