I (Bill) have always loved books about animals.  Non-coincidentally, books were the type of gift frequently given to me on birthdays by my parents and relatives.  I used to read (and later dream) about the pictures for endless hours.  The ones featuring reptiles and dinosaurs were, of course, the best.

A book I received when I was 5 or 6 years old will always stand out as a special favorite, even though herps of any kind were a very minor part of it.  The title is Wild Animals of North America, 1960, published by the National Geographic Society as a volume in their Natural Science Library.  It was actually focused on the mammals, but a few snakes crept into several of the pictures, including vivid paintings of a bull snake constricting a ground squirrel and an otter eating a water snake.  They were all original paintings of natural action by Walter A. Weber, a gifted NGS staff artist. 

One picture in particular grabbed my imagination from the moment I laid eyes on it - a dazzlingly beautiful corn snake sneaking up on a rat nibbling a corn cob under a wood pile.  That painting  mesmerized me - long did I fantasize about seeing such a creature in the wild!

That beautiful, hard-bound tome was a gift from my godfather, John Taltavall of Colt's Neck, New Jersey.  Early on, he recognized my fondness for nature, often fostering it with such books; I still have many of them in my library today.  I credit him as a major inspiration to me to read books and learn more about the world through personal exploration.  Recreating that image in this photograph in February 2003 was like taking a nostalgia trip!  THANKS, 'Uncle' John!