This book is as close to perfect as I think any book on a similar topic will be. For anyone with the slightest interest in snakes, Australian or otherwise, the book is an absolute must-have. It is sure to become a classic.

So Many Snakes, So Little Time is a compellingly written memoir by Professor Rick Shine about his extraordinary 50-year career as a snake ecologist. So compelling in fact, that I started reading it (the first time) after I got it out of the letterbox one morning recently, and, apart from stopping for lunch, I did nothing but read the book until I finished it around 7.30pm that same day! Admittedly, I raced through the book on my first reading, taking a week or so of leisurely reading on my second attempt.

The book overflows with new understandings of snake natural history, ecology and evolutionary biology that have been discovered by the pioneering field and laboratory studies that Shine and his research students have undertaken, often under difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances. But Shine also reveals the more ‘human’ aspects to his research career: abandoning his initial PhD topic to pursue his passion for snakes; the early difficulties in establishing a career and, importantly, a reputation, for high quality, ground-breaking research at a time when snake ecology wasn’t generally seen as a ‘cutting edge’ area for a young ecologist to work on; the insecurities, disappointments and occasional failures. Essentially, the memoir provides the captivating backstory to an outstanding research career that has generated over 1000 peer-reviewed scientific papers, several books, and many millions of dollars of research funding.

The book is also full of beautiful photos, most of which readers will not have seen before, including some lovely colour portraits of a range of Australian species.

What comes through so clearly when reading the book is the genuine passion and respect that Rick Shine has for snakes. Shine has never seen snakes as just a model group of organisms on which to test out theories. Instead, he appreciates their beauty, biology and behaviour for their intrinsic value as much as for the scientific insights that emerge from studying them. The book is then, not only an honest reflection on his amazing career but it's also a celebration of snakes as a group of animals that have accomplished extraordinary things, in an evolutionary and ecological sense.