In Search of the Golden Frog

Marty Crump, adjunct professor of biology at Northern Arizona University and conservation fellow of the Wildlife Conservation Society, has tromped through many a rain forest and hunkered in many a swamp during her 31 years of herpetological field research. In her travels through Ecuador, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Brazil, she's studied harlequin frogs, golden toads, and predaceous tadpoles; encountered conga ants, electric eels, and bushmaster vipers; and dined on rat, parrot, and guinea pig. Her memoir, begun as a gift for her children, is now a treat for anyone with a taste for travel, nature, and a story well told.

Crump's tone is always friendly, never pompous, and the vivid details provide for the best sort of armchair travel, where you can almost (but happily, not quite) feel the oppressive humidity, taste the decayed banana wine, and smell the fetid vegetation, while picturing the astonishing glories of "over one hundred Day-Glo golden orange toads poised like statues, dazzling jewels against the dark brown mud."

She juggled the rigors of fieldwork with the demands of motherhood, learning to express milk for her 6-week-old infant Karen while hiking in the rain to study frogs in the lush mountains of Costa Rica. Her field experience has certainly contributed to her herpetological expertise (not for nothing was she honored with the Distinguished Herpetologist Award), but it has also created a bountiful supply of exceptional travel stories. Crump has combined her choicest stories with ample herpetological annotation, creating a unique collection of travel tales liberally spiced with naturalist lore. --Stephanie Gold