Dance of the Reptiles: Rampaging Tourists, Marauding Pythons, Larcenous Legislators, Crazed Celebrities, and Tar-Balled Beaches | Selected Columns

Written by Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by Arte Johnson

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

If you think the wildest, wackiest stories that Carl Hiaasen can tell have all made it into his hilarious, bestselling novels, think again. Dance of the Reptiles collects the best of Hiaasen's Miami Herald columns, which lay bare the stories--large and small--that demonstrate anew that truth is far stranger than fiction.

Hiaasen offers his commentary-indignant, disbelieving, sometimes righteously angry, and frequently hilarious-on burning issues like animal welfare, polluted rivers, and the broken criminal justice system as well as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Bernie Madoff's trial, and the shenanigans of the recent presidential elections. Whether or not you have read Carl Hiaasen before, you are in for a wild ride.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio
• Release date: Jan 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9780804164061

Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen (b. 1953) is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of more than twenty adult and young adult novels and nonfiction titles, including the novels Strip Tease (1993) and Skinny Dip (2004), as well as the mystery-thrillers Powder Burn (1981), Trap Line (1982), and A Death in China (1984), which were cowritten with fellow Miami Herald journalist Bill Montalbano (1941–1998). Hiaasen is best known for his satirical writing and dark humor, much of which is directed at various social and political issues in his home state of Florida. He is an award-winning columnist for the Miami Herald, and lives in Vero Beach.

Reviews for Dance of the Reptiles

[ffifield-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you've ever read a Carl Hiaasen novel, reading this will show you where he gets all the absurd plot lines. Florida is a crazy place.

[untraveller · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read a good chunk of the book, but it becomes repetitious after about the first third. All of Florida is extremely corrupt and full of old and/or corrupt people and politicians the likes of which anyone else wouldn't want to be around. This details those experiences through newspaper columns. Have read all of his other books as well. Not as much a fan of these collections of columns as I am his novels. Still worth reading.

[kamgeb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a collection of Carl Hiaasen's columns. I loved his young adult books so I wanted to read the columns. The first section covered environmental issues. I found it very interesting because it contained a lot of new information for me. The latter sections that covered politics I found annoying to say the least. I already knew the information so it didn't have that to pique my interest. And I found the writing too sarcastic and nasty for my taste. (I must say the one thing I found interesting was his take on Donald Trump's run for presidency since it was written before anyone took Donald as a serious candidate, but I was reading it after Donald was elected.)

[vgaharris · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable, very witty writing. All related to Florida politics, agencies, and policy.

[drled_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a set of newspaper columns from over several years. Some are entertaining, some are depressing, and some are informative. All deal with what the local population, government and the tourist industry are doing to Florida. Hiaasen is an environmentalist who fears for the continuation of the natural habitat of Florida as well as the ability of the land to continue to sustain the population.

[glennis.leblanc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like Carl Hiassen's fiction and this is the second book of his nonfiction that I have read and the writing style is even more biting in his nonfiction. The books chapters are set up on different themes. I did a lot of grinding my teeth on the environmental section since Florida is my home state and just shaking my head over the political columns. If you are interested in his fiction writing this is a great window to peek inside to see just where his story ideas come from. Overall a good roundup of news stories set in Florida since 2000.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.

[ritaer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The usual cliché is "Laugh until I cried." For Hiaasen's description of the environmental havoc in and the political corruption of his home state, I think it is more like "Cried until I laughed." The essays immediately after 9/11 and in the early stages of the war in Iraq are a good reminder of what it all looked like going in; the lies that were dished out and swallowed, the ever changing justifications, the irrationality of it all.