Make no bones about it, this coffee-table-styled photobook shows why some people find snakes fascinating, and some find them the worst thing imaginable. Their body action and stance, their unblinking gaze, their maw, the black tongue… Here, too, we find that many of the deadly ones don't stick to the same colouring – even in Europe there are pretty risky snakes to have around that aren't uniform. Marvellous, then, when panicked to high heaven and trying to get the right antivenom.

Anyway, this book is a very good volume, for certain audiences. Some fans of the critters will know all this and more, and some curious browsers may find this too much like a gallery, where even though everything gets a decent caption we don't get much about their biology. So if you want their anatomy you might find this lacking, if you seek their prehistory it's absent, and so is much else a definitive snake book would offer. As a result this is just four stars – I learnt a lot about the variety of the things through seeing a lot more of them in the one place than I'd seen before, but similar animal volumes from Amber Books have provided me with a greater picture of the subject beyond the great pictures provided by the photography experts involved.

The cover of this book caught my eye when I was having a look at NetGalley recently. As it’s published by Amber Books how could I resist, especially when I knew it would be filled with stunning photography and interesting facts about these mysterious creatures.
The book is divided into 8 chapters including an introduction, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, South America and of course the important Picture Credits.
I know not everyone likes snakes, in fact my Mum really doesn’t, probably because her older brother teased her as a child with earth worms, putting her off liking anything that slithers for life. Fortunately I haven’t inherited that phobia, so I loved this book and was amazed at the gorgeous colours of these creatures. I don’t why I was so surprised that there are so many different coloured snakes, as I’ve seen them in zoos and on TV, but I’d never seen pale blue or orange snakes before!
I know from experience that they are not cold or slimy creatures, but sometimes they do look like they should be. What I didn’t realise is that there are almost 4,000 different species on every continent, apart from Antarctica, and about 600 of those are venomous, but only 200 of them are able to kill or seriously harm humans.
I’ve never really thought that snakes could swim, but they can, particularly the Viperine Water Snake found in southwestern Europe and Northern African.
Some snakes look a bit peculiar, especially the Nose-Horned Viper from southern Europe, the Saharan Horned Viper, Many-Horned Adder of Africa, the Eyelash bush Viper from Tanzania and the Malagasy Leaf-nosed snake from Madagascar.
I could keep going on and on, but you really do need to see the book to discover all the weird and wonderful snakes for yourself.
Highly recommended!

Let me preface this review with the fact that I own a reptile store in my home town. So to me snakes aren't just fascinating but they're literally my life. I was so excited to get to read a copy of this beautiful book. Every photo in this book is absolutely stunning and really reminded me how diverse and beautiful snakes are. All of the captions giving the background and stats for each snake was well researched and well written. I loved the format of going through the different continents. It was really fun to see some of the snakes that i get to work with every day featured. I cannot wait to be able to have a copy of this at my store for my customers to look through!

A compilation of wonderful photographs of snakes from around the world. Rather than being arranged by some taxonomic classification the chapters are geographical - the continents – which I find better for general reading. The selection of snakes includes both well known and lesser known species. The informaation about them is fairly rudimentary. This book is about the pictures and most of them are stunning, especially the snakes that are highly patterned and/or vividly colored. It’s a beautiful book.
I received a digital advance copy compliements of Amber Books and NetGalley.

A really insightful book that was a very interesting read! Thank you NetGalley for approving me on this one

My first thought about snakes is 'eeekkk'!!! But thanks to this book all I can think now is 'wow! I never knew there were so many varieties and they are all shown off in beautiful detail in this book thanks to the stunning photography throughout!

This book is a fabulous coffee table book that shines a light on the wonders of the slippery snakes! It features them from all corners of the globe, shows their different habitats and shares fascinating information about them all. But for me it was the photographs that steal the show! Some of them are jaw droppingly beautiful and I'm definitely converted now to appreciate their beauty!

I really thought I'd enjoy this book and it may be my own fault that I didn't. Everything about this book led me to believe it was a photography book, meaning one where the author had taken the pictures, and that they would all be new and of the same quality. Turns out, the author and/or publisher gathered existing pictures from various sources, including Shutterstock, and then added descriptions and bits of information. This also means that the pictures are of varying quality, and sometimes don't even fit what the author has written (example: one picture shows anacondas mating, but the description is about their size and feeding behavior).

Does this mean it's not worth reading? No, it definitely has its merits. It's interesting, for one, with some truly spectacular photos, and it covers species even I hadn't heard of (which is not easy to do). For someone simply interested in snakes, this would no doubt be a delightful book. Sadly, while I'm definitely interested in snakes, I also enjoy photography, so this was not the book for me.

Content Warnings for: Snakes and the various subjects relating to them (bites, predation, etc.).

Wow! Just wow! 🐍 Absolutely remarkable! The detail the different photographers were able to capture is breathtaking. The patters and the colours 💚 Truly loved every bit of this book. Snakes are amazing.

In the UK we are used to snakes being green or brown and fairly muted in colours. This book however opens your eyes to the world, both geographically and figuratively, of snakes and the many colours and shapes they can come in. Lavishly illustrated throughout with large scale photographs this book provides an insight into the snake and what I really enjoyed was that there were some really detailed photographs whilst others showed the whole snake and something of its habitat. Each has a useful caption that gives some background. They are adapted to suit the environments in which they live, both on land and in water. Even with a species of animal that is strong in the imagination this book provides much food for thought about how much beauty there is in nature.

This book was an advanced reading copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Very nice coffee table book for the snakes lovers! The pictures have a really high quality and its just a beautiful book to browse through!

I have always found snakes to be intriguing creatures so I jumped at the chance to read Snakes by Julianna Photopoulos and I had a ball learning more about these fascinating animals. As with all of the coffee table books I've read from Amber Books, fun facts accompany the most beautiful photos and Snakes was just a joy to read and look at.

I was hugely surprised at how snakes' appearance can vary: there's a blind European snake that looks like an earthworm, there are snakes with cat eyes, ones with vertical-slit pupils and ones with round pupils, there are snakes with tentacles and ones with horns in all forms and sizes, snakes that look like they have bristly hair, ones that look like they have eyelashes, ones that seem to be wearing spectacles and ones whose eyes make up about a quarter of their head.

This is clearly a very diverse species and some snakes are just drop dead gorgeous. There is a magnificent photo of a Madagascar tree boa, a really impressive banded krait, a stunning blood python, a beautiful pit viper (that's its actual common name, but it is in fact beautiful), a stunningly colourful blotched palm-pit viper and an Indonesian pit viper, which is strikingly blue. I also greatly admired the photos of the skeletons, a snake is basically a head with a spine and hundreds of floating ribs.

I learned that some snakes can't see very well so they have pit organs: openings lining their lips that help them "see" the heat of their warm-blooded prey. I learned that there are sea snakes, one of which is named after a Belgian naturalist (the Dubois' sea snake), incidentally the most venomous sea snake in the world, and that the black mamba is not black at all, it is named for its black mouth which it shows when it feels threatened.

Even though I love snakes, a few photos did give me the heebie-jeebies: one where an African rock python is devouring a gazelle, and it looks eerily like a gazelle wearing a snake coat, and the mating / breeding ball photos, because apparently I'm fine with looking at one snake but seeing a bunch of them crawling over each other creeps me out 🤷🏼‍♀️

I would definitely recommend Snakes to readers of any age who want to learn more about these fascinating animals.

Massive thanks to Amber Books and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Nice book, full of captivating photos and descriptions of snakes. I would have appreciated more detail, maybe with maps showing distribution, population levels (so whether endangered or not), and more of a descriptor about the levels of toxicity (mildly, venomous or highly), so for me, I would have appreciated a more factual book that I could refer back to, rather than flick through once and put on the shelf to gather dust. So front/back fangs, prey, type of toxin, if there is antivenom, how many people are bitten/killed each year (if available), and extra brownie points if there was something in the book related to the medical uses of snake venom and development, to show how important these creatures are to the ecosystem.

The readership for this volume will be more limited than the books devoted to dogs or cats but, for people who are not freaked out by snakes, the pictures are so beautiful that it is hard to stop staring. As opposed to the majority of breathing creatures, I always get closer when I see a snake, only later realizing that it’s not a good idea. Looking at these pictures allows readers like me to admire these creatures from as close as possible without risking their lives. The quality of the photographs is fantastic, the colors sharp and vivid and the next best thing to being able to touch them. Every one makes evident how snakes can vary so much. Each chapter devoted to a continent, the author describes some of the species that live there, as well as some of their biological characteristics, behavior and habitats. There isn’t too much scientific information so readers looking for more lengthy explanations might be left wanting. Anyone who wants to appreciate these misunderstood, beautiful and sometimes dangerous creatures, will enjoy this book. I loved it.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Amber Books!

A book filled with gorgeous photos of these stunning creatures.
I highly recommend this book for the visually striking photos and brief descriptions of snakes found on each continent.
This book is so beautiful!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free digital edition for review purposes

Snake lovers will love this photo heavy book! Separated by continent, each page has quick facts and gorgeous photographs of snakes around the world.

Snakes by Juliana Photopoulos is a superb snake book to ogle and savor. Snakes are often misunderstood and it is important to remember that snakes fear humans and strike when they feel threatened. Not only does the author include brief descriptions of each but also 250 extraordinary stock photographs which capture them in various situations. The chapters are arranged by continent, all except Antarctica where snakes aren't found.

My fear of snakes evaporated after becoming educated about them and handling them under guidance. There are nearly 4,000 species of these beautiful animals and as a forager and nature lover I have encountered about 20-25 species in the wild. Some which are pictured in this book are the slender Dahl's whip snake, mildly venomous Montpellier, Common European adder (which to me looks crocheted in real life), fast Western whip snake, slow and sort of dowdy European worm snake and the graceful Aesculpalian snake (which I've seen in the throes of mating rituals). They give me goosebumps of excitement and I recall each sighting in detail as a rabid football fan recalls plays. At snake displays I have had the fortune to see far more, many of which are also detailed in this book. I am a bit obsessed with these magnificent creatures!

Whether you love snakes or aren't very sure about them, this book is for you. At the very least the information will encourage one to respect and appreciate snakes and learn about their habits and habitats. Various details such as shedding, feeding, birthing, venom and size are utterly fascinating.

My sincere thank you to Amber Books Ltd. and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this captivating book.

A stunning pictorial record of the snakes of the world.I am not a fan of snakes but I was really engaged with this. An excellent book of its type

Snakes: From Vipers to Boa Constrictors is a beautiful photographic book about snakes by Julianna Photopoulos. Due out 14th June 2023 from Amber Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

The first section of the book includes a very basic introduction on snakes as a general family. The bulk of the book contains a gorgeous and very colorful primer of specific snake species arranged by continent. Each entry includes a common name, the genus and species names, and numerous crystal clear photos of the snake, and various behaviours.

This is a gorgeous hardcover coffee table book. I found it quite appealing and would definitely recommend it for the home or school library or a very nice gift. To appreciate and protect the future of our planet, people have to learn to appreciate and love the creatures with whom we share the earth. A lot of ignorance and fear can be dispelled with calm and factual information. This book shows snakes in their habitats as interesting and worthy of our respect and protection. Many (most?) of the photos are stock photos collected from commercial companies; they're all credited in the index.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is a beautiful book that includes so many stunning pictures of snakes from around the world. The shots captured in this are truly extraordinary. I like all of the small descriptions of the snakes as well. This is a very quick read and visually appealing. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.