As someone who loves both snakes and travel writing, I was intrigued by this book's topic. Though the author proclaims himself "phobic" of snakes, his attitude is probably closer to that of most people--a mixture of fear and fascination.

Seal focuses on four snakes: taipan (Australia), cobra (India), black mamba (Africa) and diamondback rattler (United States). In each country, he pursues both the snake itself and the people fascinated by snakes.

This travelogue explores psychological and religious affecting our relationship with snakes, as well as interspersing Bill Bryson-esque encounters with the people in each country (Seal is British, and thus a stranger in each land he visits). The author is amusing as well as informative; when dealing with snakes as venomous as these four, it's hard not to be dramatic. Historical tidbits (such as the Australian immigrant surrounding his home with snake-free Irish sod in hopes of repelling Australia's reptiles) lend a terrific feel to the book.

The primary difficulty I experienced with this book is its format. Each chapter covers one segment of his experience in a different country in a rotating format (oddly, India doesn't appear until we've gone through about three segments in each of the other countries). This occasionally makes it difficult to follow the multiple story threads. Additionally, the saga of the American woman whose husband attempted to murder her with rattlesnakes is excessively long and drawn out.

On the whole, however, this is a great read for anyone who either loves or hates snakes.

Those who either love snakes or are scared to death of them will be enthralled by Jeremy Seal's travels in search of survivors who've been bitten by the world's deadliest snakes. Seal's adventures take him to Africa in search of survivors of the notorious Black Mamba, to India in search of the King Cobra, to Austrailia which has the world's deadliest snake in the Taipan and to Appalachian U.S., where Holiness Church members handle live rattlesnakes as part of their services. The most memorable sequences are the horrifying experience of a preacher's wife whose husband tried to murder her by forcing her to put her hands in a rattlesnake cage and the graphic descriptions of the effects of Taipan poison as recounted by a lucky survivor. The only knock on the book is that Seal chooses to break each segment up into about five parts which are interspersed throughout the book. This makes the stories sometimes hard to follow. Nevertheless, it is compelling reading that might have you checking under your bed before turning out the light at night.

As a snake owner (20+ years for a non-venomous one) and an author of a book about Cleopatra, how could I not order this book? When it arrived, I was delighted to find it was beautifully written and taught me about many species of snakes I did not know about, as well as the mind-set of those who seem undaunted by hunting and handling poisonous snakes. I know (from various herpetology society newsletters as well as regular news items) that the lure of breeding and keeping 'hot' snakes (as they are called in the trade) exerts a strong fascination for many. Jeremy Seal captures this psychology very well, as well as the attitude of most of us: we want to look at the deadly creatures, but not too closely.

The book also gives fine background about the natural history of Australia and Africa, introduces a set of human 'characters' that you will never forget, and keeps the reader in suspense about many of the stories by shifting locales, like the old matinee cliff-hangers.

Like another reader, my only suggestion for improvement would be that he would have come out against the rattlesnake roundups, which will soon be making an impact on the population of the rattlesnakes and sending them the way of the passenger pigeon or the dodo. Such elegant and beautiful creatures (who are only trying to eat and survive, after all) deserve better.

Great book, great job, Mr. Seal! Thanks for writing it for snake and non-snake people alike.

While in the town of Morwenstow, author Jeremy Seal noticed the cracked figurehead of the Scottish ship Caledonia, which sunk off the English coast in 1842. Interested in learning more about the ill-fated vessel, Mr. Seal searched public records dating back to 1842, customs paperwork and local edifices like the church. Mr. Seal concludes that the townsfolk led by Parson Hawker caused wreck in order to salvage the cargo.

When Mr. Seal examines the past through his mesmerizing theory, readers receive an enthralling historical speculative work. However, when Mr. Seal provides insight into how he conducts research and the steps he took to draw his conclusion, the book loses momentum. Though overall quite interesting, TREACHERY AT SHARPNOSE POINT could have been morbidly great with more insight into the 1842 Morwenstow Caledonia link and less Seal.

Harriet Klausner

Being a native of Turkey, I found Seal's book not only carrying strong Orientalist motives, but also uninformed or misinformed in many occasions. The book being built on the 'Fez' theme sounds interesting first, but it is not meant to be simply a travel book and attempts to analyze complicated cultural and historical issues of the Turkish society. Unfortunately, the writer lacks the academic (or seems to lack any strong background for that matter) to be able to draw educated conclusions. I often felt that the writer had a views in mind and was trying confirm them with his observations in that direction. His characters were extremely uncommon and seemed deliberately selected, if not fabricated.

(...). This is just another book that is quick to offer scathing and exagerated reprobation veiled in cheap British humor by highlighting individuals' quirks. It is also outdated -- a better choice, watch "Keeping up Appearances" on PBS. Brits are much more tolerable when they are making fun of themselves.

Whether or not to read this book shold be determined by the type of information you are pursuing. When I travel around a country (and my wife and I have spent about 1 month traveling around Turkey) I like to do so with at least three books: 1. a good travel guide (in our case we use only the Lonely Planet guides, they are the bible for travelers), 2. a good comprehensive history and 3. a good lighthearted read of the people, history, culture, etc.

'A Fez of the Heart' falls into the latter. It is a very enjoyable book about the travels of an young man returning to Turkey and getting educated in its recent (post WWI) history. The education is comical and caused both my wife and I to laugh out loud. The plot pertaining to seeking out anything to do with a fez is a clever cover to explain the author's presence and wanderings.

This book should not be read as a cultural barometer nor a factual history of Turkey. It is a pleasant and humorous read that left me with the desire to get to better undersand elements of Turkey's recent past.

If that is what you are looking for you will not do any better than 'A Fez of the Heart'.