The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Very informative and amazing how this snail is intricately created! A great true story of wonder!

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating 4 What I thought I was going to be reading: I read this at the same time I began listening to another similarly themed nature memoir, “H is for Hawk.” I have not read any other nature memoirs, so I don’t have much of a background for the genre itself. I do, however, tend to enjoy personal memoirs, especially ones with emotional turmoil and grief. I saw that this was a rather quick read, so I downloaded the e-book and started reading. What I actually read: The book focuses on one woman’s journey to some semblance of recovery after experiencing a debilitating international infection that left her almost all the way paralyzed. The narrator receives a pet snail from a friend while she is at home on bed rest. The chapters switch from the author’s observations of the snail to actual scientific explanations of snails as a species to stories of the author’s illness and recovery. The author finds comfort in her observations of the snail, as she fights through mental and physical isolation. What to expect: This memoir offers a nice balance of scientific description on snails and a personal narrative of the author’s life and recovery. This was a light read, with chapters being only a few pages long. I enjoyed learning about snails and their habits and how the author weaves her story into her observations of her companion snail.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating This little book of 184 pages I digested at one sitting. I couldn't put it down. From the opening quote of Florence Nightingale that "A small pet is often an excellent companion" to the farewell cameo from "Snails and Their Houses", 1888 about love-making among snails (sorry, but you will have to read the book yourself to find what was said there) the narrative held me spellbound. I thought I knew a good deal about snails, but this little book opened my eyes to a whole new world of discovery about terrestrial snail behaviour. This is a true story. The author, Elisabeth Tova Bailey, was confined to bed with a debilitating and fluctuating chronic illness that she has fought for over two decades. During one year of this time she became intrigued with the behaviour of a snail that had taken up residence in a small potted plant that a friend had brought her as a present and which was placed next to her bed. Her fascination in the snail's midnight wanderings and reactions to small morsels of different foods introduced into its environment makes for fascinating reading. We are taken on a journey of discovery that includes observations of a hole that appeared overnight in an envelope she had propped against the base of a lamp. How could a hole - a square hole - appear in an envelope over-night? Then she thought about the nocturnal activ-ity of her snail and reasoned that it must have some kind of teeth, "and it wasn't shy about using them". Intrigued to learn more, she offered the snail some real food, some withered blossoms, and stayed awake over several evenings making observations with her torch. In this way she introduces the reader to what we as malacologists know as the radulae. But she goes further with her observations, further than most of us have gone. She listened carefully and could hear it eating! "The tiny, intimate sound of the snail's eating gave me a distinct feeling of compan-ionship and shared space.....The snail and I were both living in altered landscapes not of our choosing; I figured that we shared a sense of loss and displace-ment....After weeks of round-the-clock companion-ship, there was no doubt about the relationship: the snail and I were officially cohabiting...Whereas the energy of my human visitors wore me out, the snail inspired me". Wanting the snail to have a safer and more natural home she later moved it from the flow-erpot into a fresh terrarium where it thrived on por-tobello mushrooms and hatched its offspring. And so we learn about snail courtship and spiral mating, its sophisticated method of scent tracking, "the mac-romolecular architecture of molluscan mucus", tele-scopic tentacles, snail shell spiral assymetry, and more. Eventually, all the snails were returned to their native habitat. Elisabeth Bailey made her snail obser-vations for over a year but continued her research for several more years as is evidenced by the valuable list of Selected Sources (books and articles for fur-ther reading) provided at the end of the book. I would venture to say that few of us have heard the sound of a wild snail eating. Now you can. The author has a web site (...) where she has posted a 4 min 30sec YouTube video that al-lows you to view and listen to the sound of a snail eating ! I recommend you buy two copies of this little book; one to read yourself and one to pass on to someone who does not even LIKE snails. You will both find you want to learn more about these fasci-nating creatures

This a beautifully written, little GEM of a book. The author, Elizabeth Tova Bailey, is stricken with a strange illness that has sapped her strength, she is too weak to do anything besides lie in bed. Reading, watching TV, visiting with friends—all of these are too draining for her to do. One day a friend brings her a pot of violets with—of all things—a snail in it. The mere idea of the responsibility for this is almost overwhelming for Elizabeth, but the quiet, slow, peacefulness of the snail gradually wins her over. What started as a bizarre unwanted gift became her main focus and companion. Elizabeth is an excellent observer of nature, and her growing interest in the snail leads her to learn all she can about them. The book switches back and forth between Elizabeth's history that lead up to her illness, her current life and snail story, and everything she learns about snails in general—which is fascinating. I am not a fan of snails, and this book made me want to have one as a pet. This is proof of good writing! Snails are hermaphrodites, for one thing. They can meet, mate, and both snails can later lay eggs. But if there's no love to be had, snails can be do without, and fertilize themselves and lay eggs. Elizabeth's snail lays several clutches of eggs which eventually hatch into the almost microscopic teensy new snails. Before that, the pot is exchanged for a large aquarium, and the snail's territory expanded to include a small rotten log, moss, pine needles, ferns, bark with lichens, and other materials taken from the woods outside (the natural environment of the snail). Despite no voice or mammal-type facial features, the snail is able to communicate well with regards to what it likes and doesn't like. The author describes it as a “tireless and fearless explorer” as it makes its rounds inside and out of its area. Other books, both fiction and non-fiction, are referenced. Some notables include the poem by A. A. Milne (of Winnie the Pooh fame) who wrote about a snail named James who journeyed (with a compass) from one of a brick to the other. Another was the horrifying story The Quest for Blank Claveringi, about giant, man-eating snails who slowly but relentlessly trail their prey. Non-fiction includes everything from Aristotle's writings about snails, to an old children's book call Odd Pets. The snail's teeth, grooming habits, and food needs are charmingly discussed. The entire book is fascinating and leaves you with an appreciation for a creature that most of us ignore or even dislike. The author takes something that probably creeps most people out, and makes it downright irresistible!!

I had this book sitting on my kindle for a while, and kept putting off reading it because I thought the title a little pretentious. So if you are as dumb as me, I should start by telling you that this book does actually feature the sound of a snail eating. In fact there is a great deal of snail information in here. Still not the most promising sounding of books? Don't let me put you off. This is a beautiful book, and for me the very best thing about it was that it made me relax, enjoy and read carefully. Often I race through books, but this one deserved to be savoured. It is a sort of snail diary from the point of view of the author, who was severely confined by illness.The little events take place over a year and you will be surprised at how enthralling a year in the life of a poorly lady and a little snail can be. If you have been looking for a something beautifully written and unusual, look no further. You will also find out quite a lot about snails, and amazing little things they are too. I shall be a more tolerant gardener from now on.

I can think of no better way to rate this splendid and unique little book than by borrowing the words that reviewers have used: moving, beautiful, funny, sweet, wise, and profound. It is all of these things. At first, looking at the unusual title I was in two minds as to whether or not to buy it, but reading the reviews convinced me to try it. I am not disappointed! Highly recommended!

very detailed in a spirited way, comforting if you know somebody bedridden and affected by chronic disease, amazing views of life of humans and snails

This is a wonderful meditative read, and it made me take a long hard look at many of my preconceptions about all sorts of things.

original, funny, moving, thoughtful, insightful, sad, delightful..thought provoking-it was difficult to put down and sad to come to the end and to have leave this charming woman.