About this item

In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her uncommon encounter with a Neohelix albolabris --a common woodland snail. While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater under standing of her own confined place in the world. Intrigued by the snail's molluscan anatomy, cryptic defenses, clear decision making, hydraulic locomotion, and mysterious courtship activities, Bailey becomes an astute and amused observer, providing a candid and engaging look into the curious life of this underappreciated small animal.



About the Author

Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Elisabeth Tova Bailey's natural history/memoir, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, received the 2012 William Saroyan International Prize for Nonfiction, a 2011 John Burroughs Medal Award for Distinguished Natural History, a 2010 National Outdoor Book Award in Natural History Literature and a Gold Award from Foreword Book of the Year for Memoir and was selected as a top ten Science & Technology title for 2010 by the American Library Association and one of the Best Books of 2010 by Library Journal and The Huffington Post. Editions/translations are available in the U.S., UK, and Australia/New Zealand, Germany, France, China, Korea, Taiwan, Germany, and (forthcoming) in Japan.

The Sound of a Wild Snail has found a special home in the medical humanities field with coverage in Academic Medicine, Hektoen International, The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, Advance for Nurses Book Club and numerous national patient publications. The book is also being used in secondary and higher educational settings.

Bailey's essay, "A Green World Deep in Winter: The Bedside Terrarium," on the invention of the terrarium by a 19th century London physician and its use in palliative care, is available on the free access online Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine. Bailey lives in Maine.

To watch a slide/talk with the author, hear audio interviews, see a brief film, read full reviews, or to send along your own snail story, please visit: www.elisabethtovabailey.net

Image credits: Portrait of the author by E. LaRoche, photo of terrarium by D. Smith



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