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Raymond Hoser is known as the Snakeman, a moniker that he has zealously defended. As a day job, Hoser runs a Melbourne business that offers services such as snake removal and snake shows. But by the 2010s, he became famous around the world for an entirely different activity: naming thousands of new species, including more snakes than any other scientist. To some, Hoser’s accomplishments were a scientific triumph. But others have accused Hoser of what they call “taxonomic vandalism,” the results of which, they argue, could alter the very course of life on Earth.

Snake Men recounts this outrageous story, tracing the surprising intersection between taxonomists, the scientists who have for centuries worked to understand the order of life, and Raymond Hoser and other snake men. The chaotic results hint at the rebellious impulse that lies coiled somewhere deep inside us all.