Heard about town

"Kate Jackson is one of those special God-struck individuals with a consuming passion for snakes. She is not alone in this passion, but it is a rare phenomenon to have the passion combined with a dedication to rigorous scientific inquiry."

That from George Zug of the Smithsonian Institution, introducing Jackson on Sunday at the National Museum of Natural History. Jackson's book Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo is out now from HUP.