Читать книгу Snake in the Grass - Larry Perez - Страница 7

Acknowledgments

There are a great many people to whom I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude in authoring this volume. Even a relatively short work such as this requires the assistance and attention of numerous supporters—usually over a span of years. I am extraordinarily grateful that this project has made me—both personally and indirectly—familiar with the remarkable group of individuals who leave their indelible impressions upon these pages.

I would like to thank Jeremy Conrad, Jeff Carter, Clayton and Ralph DeGayner, Jane Dozier, Dennis Giardina, Cheryl Metzger, Tony Pernas, Joanne Potts, and Skip Snow for generously sharing their time and stories with me. You have all left me in awe of your passion and efforts.

I would like to also express my gratitude to Jessica Demarco, Jim Duquesnel, Alexander Pyron, and Tim Taylor for their generous contributions to the imagery in this work. Special thanks also to Captain Jeff Fobb and Paul Marcellini for kindly giving of their time in helping capture the striking images that grace the front of this book.

I would like to thank those who took time from their busy schedules to review portions of my manuscript and provide their invaluable comments. In alphabetical order they are Mark Davis, Michael Dorcas, Jason Goldberg, Frank Mazzotti, Walter Meshaka, Christina Romagosa, Stephen Secor, and Kristina Serbesoff-King. I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to both Bob Reed and Tom Lodge for reviewing large portions of this book and providing insightful comments that resulted in a much-improved experience for the reader.

I am indebted also to Richard Grant of the National Park Service for his thoughtful and attentive review of this project.

I also cannot thank enough June Cussen, my editor, and the entire Pineapple Press family for their support of this title and their tireless efforts in the final preparation of this manuscript.

And finally, this work would simply not have been possible were it not for the boundless patience and loving support of my family. In the course of writing this book, I feel I have shortchanged my beautiful wife and two incredible children far too many hours and days. So enough about snakes, kids . . . let’s go out and have some fun!