Venom Doc: The edgiest, darkest and strangest natural history memoir ever by Bryan G Fry
Welcome to the strange and dangerous world of the VENOM DOC.
Imagine a three-week-long first date in Siberia catching venomous water shrews, and later a wedding attended by Eastern European prime ministers and their bodyguards wielding machine guns. Then a life spent living and working with snakes. Lots of very, very poisonous snakes and other venomous creatures ... everything from the Malaysian king cobra to deadly scorpions.
Welcome to Bryan Grieg Fry's world.
In this action-packed ride through Bryan's life you'll meet the man who's worked with the world's most venomous creatures in over 50 countries. He's been bitten by 26 poisonous snakes and stung by three stingrays - and survived a near-fatal scorpion sting while deep in the Amazon jungle. He's also broken 23 bones, including breaking his back in three places, and had to learn how to walk again. But when you only research the venom you've collected yourself - the adventures, and danger, will just keep coming ...
Dividing his time between scientific research and teaching at the University of Queensland, and TV filming and collecting expeditions around the world, Bryan and danger are never far from one another.
ANZEC Member - Byran G Fry
Welcome to my world. One filled with an obsession for venom. A passion I use as my fuel for scientific research into venom and antivenom. It is a life spent living and working with snakes. Lots of very, very toxic snakes and a myriad of other venomous creatures. Everything from the Malaysian king cobra to deadly scorpions. I am passionate about venomous animals, in all their glorious shapes and sizes. When asked what it’s like to live my childhood dream of working with these animals I like to quote from Calvin & Hobbes “‘I am obeying the inscrutable exhortations of my inner-most soul, and my mandate also includes weird bugs’. I graduated from the Portland State University Honours Program with a dual degree in Molecular Biology (BSc) and Scientific Philosophy (BA), with a minor in Psychology (BA) in 1995. I then completed a PhD from the University of Queensland in 2002 on the toxic natriuretic peptides present in taipan venoms, I am now an associate professor at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland where I am group leader of the Venom Evolution Laboratory. I have conducted field research in over 40 countries, from Norway to Antarctica and all points in between ranging from the Amazon basin to the Sindh desert of Pakistan. The field work is hazardous and things don't always go according to plan. But the perseverance in the scientific quests in the face of such obstacles has led to me being inducted into the elite adventurer society The Explorers Club. My papers have been published in leading scientific journals such as Nature. In the popular press I have been featured nearly 100 documentaries on channels such as Animal Planet, BBC, Discovery Channel and National Geographic TV and written about in Wired, Cosmos, National Geographic in addition to numerous newspapers. I have written two books so far, the textbook 'Venomous Reptiles & Their Toxins' published by Oxford University Press and the extremely twisted memoir ‘Venom Doc’, Both of these books are infused with my passion for learning more about these toxic creatures I find so amazing.
