Venomous River: Changing Climate, Imperiled Forests, and a Scientist's Race to Find New Species in the Congo – Eli Greenbaum

BOOK REVIEW by Nancy Pearlman

Venomous River: Changing Climate, Imperiled Forests, and a Scientist’s Race to Find New Species in the Congo is a riveting story of herpetological and scientific adventures in one of the most remote and undocumented ecosystems in the world, the Congo in Central Africa. As someone who has travelled the world, I was amazed that the author, Eli Greenbaum and his team, took risks ranging from infectious tropical diseases, dangerous animals, venomous snakes and scorpions, troubling echoes of the Congo’s colonial history, unwelcome human tribes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the lack of resources, to explore a part of the world that has not even been mapped properly. In his many expeditions to the Congo Basin, one of the world’s great crucibles of biodiversity, he has discovered over 25 new amphibian and reptile species and many more are yet to be described. As Pantheists we know that tropical forests cover less than 10 percent of the Earth’s land surface but are home to about two-thirds of the planet’s terrestrial biodiversity. Unfortunately, a ballooning human population has severely damaged half of the planet’s pristine ecosystems and the biodiversity they contained, leading to an unfolding sixth mass extinction. I urge the armchair adventurer, the amateur and the professional naturalist, the anthropologists and those interested in cultural exchanges, to read this book about his eleventh expedition. Greenbaum provides a compelling reason that we nature lovers must do all we can to understand and protect these wild ecosystems.

Eli Greenbaum is a Professor of Biological Sciences and the Director of Biodiversity Collections at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is a world expert on the amphibian and reptile fauna in Central Africa and has published over 125 studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals and books. His work has been covered by CNN, Newsweek, The Washington Post, NBC News, National Geographic Daily News, Africa Geographic Magazine, Reptiles Magazine, and The Huffington Post. He is the author of Emerald Labyrinth: A Scientist’s Adventures in the Jungles of the Congo, a Forbes magazine “Top 10 Science Book” of the year.  

My radio interview with him is on YouTube: Environmental Directions with Nancy Pearlman: https://youtu.be/uJ7k_XXdMPc?si=R6Ph74z3SrEAGRFZ