BIG BEND
BOOKS
BORDER WALK by Mark J. Hainds
e southern border of the United States is a hot
topic these days, but what really goes on “down there,”
along the river shared by two countries? Even those of
us who live in the immense backyard of the Big Bend
region don’t see much the Rio Grande in an up-close
and personal way, and even fewer of us have traversed
the long Texas portion of the United States / Mexico
line all the way from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico. Is
it as bad as the media would have us believe, a
revolving door of ISIS pledges, narco-traffickers and
people hopeful for a better life streaming through by
the thousands?
Mark J. Hainds decided to find out for himself. In
the midst of searching for a change in his life he
decided it would be a grand idea to walk the whole
thing, all 1,010 miles of it. Despite dire warnings from
friends and strangers alike, Hainds walked the border
from mile marker #1 in El Paso,
Texas, all the way to Boca Chica
Beach, where the Rio Grande
dumps out into the Gulf of
Mexico. is took him through
harsh desert, remote ranchlands
of border residents, and through
many of the small towns dotting
the back roads of West Texas.
Border Walk is a tale of this
intense walk, of the miles
slogged through sun and rain,
blisters and aching limbs, and the
people and situations he
encountered. Many local establishments and persons
of the area are mentioned throughout the book as well
as a downtempo look at many of the flora, fauna and
landmarks that are out of reach for most people.
Unless you’re Border Patrol (and possibly even then),
the Borderlands contain environs rarely visited like
Chispa Road and private houses overlooking the Rio
Grande.
Hainds’s style is informative and poetic,
and at times opinionated, and
occasionally even laugh-out-loud funny.
Hainds’s background in research at both
e Longleaf Alliance and the School of
Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at Auburn
University gives him an insight to common
American issues like over-grazing and,
interestingly enough, roadkill.
e book is a slow burn, yet moves along
at a steady stride, which fits well with the
subject matter. Walking is an outdated mode
of travel in this
day and age and
Hainds
enlightens us to
the things very
close but yet
unseen at
normal, faster
paces. It’s not a
play-by-play of
every single
step, but
there are plenty of
details to entertain and enlighten the
person curious about myriad aspects of the
Borderlands. If people could slow down and smell the
cactus blooms and listen for the wildlife, they could
decide for themselves what kind of place the
Borderlands is. If not, well take a walk with Mr.
Hainds.
AMERICAN SNAKES by Sean P. Graham
Reviews by Rani Birchfield.
Books available at Front Street Books, Alpine.
“ey raced down the trail among bare, enamel-
white aspens and thick prairie grass. e first thing
they noticed was a strange, pervasive rasping
sound. In the dim twilight ahead, they saw a
depression in the limestone.
en they saw 10,000 snakes in a pit the size of
Rick’s living room.”
A book about snakes may not sound like a
captivating read, but American Snakes by Sean P.
Graham is a different story. Full of drama and
suspense (as in the excerpt above) it draws the
reader and casual picture-looker in with its many
narratives. Graham’s book is chock full of facts as
well as memorable stories about the suborder of
Squamata. As an integral and seemingly cruel part
of the natural world, Serpentes are a beautiful and
misunderstood species and this books answers
questions about their lives – what they do, how
they mate, where they hunt along with “special
powers” that will boggle the mind. e publication
is neither field guide nor scientific treatise, so it
appeals to the layperson and expert alike.
With its superb photography and larger size,
American Snakes looks like a coffee table book.
Once you open it, however, you’ll become absorbed
by the science-fiction-esque inner workings of
snakes’ and their interactions with humans and
animals alike. Snakes are both prey and predator
on a high scale and Graham goes into detail about
this constant fluctuating balancing act in the
natural world. e writing style is congenial and
relaxed and the information is multitudinous
without being stuffy – Dr. Grahams’ life-long
fascination and love of herpetology comes through
in his enthusiastic treatment of the much-
maligned animal. (And yes, snakes are animals.)
Full of anecdotes and stories with serpents as the
central (or in a few cases secondary) character, the
book is wide-ranging in its scope of the world they
inhabit. A favorite aspect of the book are the mini-
stories of other snake biologists. ese anecdotes
give us a glimpse into the excitement of being a
“snake person” and where the obsession began for
these hard-working conservationists and
advocates.
Most people will never know of these behaviors,
choosing to live in fear of the slippery, slimy
things. is book will educate and possibly allay
some of the terror brought on by crossing crooked
paths with an American snake and at the same
time inform the reader of real dangers.
Sean P. Graham is a vertebrate biologist and
Assistant Professor of Biology at Sul Ross State
University.
BIG BEND GALLERIES AND ARTISTS / 2019 11