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"With warmth and intelligence Bailey observes this little mollusk at her bedside for an entire year. Readers will find her mental journey remarkable and her courage irresistible."
—Maxine Kumin, essayist and poet; author of The Roots of Things: Essays and Where I Live.
Wild Snail Mystery Question #3
How did the snail get into the house?
1) It crawled in the back door
2) It arrived in a flower pot
3) A friend brought it from a pet store
4) It escaped from a mollusk stew
See bottom left of SNAIL INFO page for answer
Answer to Mystery Question #1:
The snail could dangle from the tip of a fern frond.
See BIO page for Mystery Question #2
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Medical Humanities reviews are on the Patients/Physicians page and Malacological reviews are on the Snail Info page. General media reviews are listed below.
NATIONAL AWARDS
John Burroughs Medal Award 2011 for Distinguished Natural History
National Outdoor Book Award for 2010 in Natural History Literature
Gold Award, Foreword Book of the Year Award, Autobiography/Memoir
Finalist, Moby Award for Book Trailer as Stand Alone Art Object
SELECTED TOP LISTS OF 2010
Great Titles to add to the New York Times Best of 2010 Lists The Huffington Post
Top Ten Science & Technology Books for 2010 BOOKLIST editors (American Library Association)
Best Books of 2010: More of the Best Library Journal
OTHER ACCOLADES
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program
Indie Next Pick List for September 2010
SELECTED MEDIA REVIEWS
"A GEM" —MORNING EDITION with Susan Stamberg "Best Books of 2010"
Indie Booksellers Pick 2010 Favorites. This gem of a book proves that good things do come in small packages. [Bailey’s] fascination with her gastropod companion expands to the place of the snail in literature and poetry and evolution. Books like this one that quietly capture our hearts and minds are a welcome treat. Audio and print review.
NPR's WEEKEND EDITION with Scott Simon Audio and print interview with author Elisabeth Tova Bailey and an excerpt from The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating.
"Brilliant" —Tim Flannery, "Tigers, Humans and Snails," The New York Review of Books
"How interesting can a snail be? Entirely captivating, as it turns out. [Bailey] is a marvelous writer, and the marriage of science and poetic mysticism that characterizes this small volume is magical. It's a . . . reminder that the things we overlook are sometimes the things that can save us . . . [A] sweet, quirky memoir.” — Star Tribune
"An exquisite meditation on the restorative connection between nature and humans. . . . the writing is pristine and clear, with sentences of stunning lyrical beauty . . . Bailey’s slim book is as richly layered as the soil she lays down in the snail’s terrarium: loamy, potent, and regenerative."— Huffington Post
“[Bailey] found comfort in an unlikely companion—a tiny snail, whose micro-doings are the source of a surprising philosophy." — Entertainment Weekly
"Irresistible . . . What starts as an improbable story becomes an irresistible one. . . this elegant little gem is a triumph."— Maine Sunday Telegram/Portland Press Herald
“[Bailey] honors the gastropod with a poetic history of its short, astonishing life.” — MORE Magazine
"Insight, science, and poetry, and scientific poetry . . . a page-turner with all the draw of a detective story and all the heart of a romance . . . "—Inquiring Mind
"I read [Bailey’s] acount in one sitting, transfixed . . . [It's a] masterpiece . . . provides a portrait of courage that will inspire all of us . . . Read it!” — The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine
"Riveting" — DownEast Magazine
"A remarkable story of hope . . . illuminating . . . passionate, extraordinary insight . . . " —Resurgence
"A spare, beautifully quirky grace note of a book.” — Family Circle Magazine
“A charming, delicate meditation on the meaning of life.” — Kirkus Review
Through curious, careful observation, Bailey engages with the snail's world until it grows as large as her own . . . though small in size, this book [includes] the voices of poets, biologists, essays, physicians, and naturalists among Bailey's own graceful prose."—Oxford American, The Southern Magazine of Good Writing
The hero of this story, [a woodland snail,] enters . . . well . . . rather slowly. It doesn't don a cape or sport a lightening bolt on its chest, but its effects are monumental. In perfect harmony Bailey flows back and forth between her own evolution and that of the Neohelix albolabris, or woodland snail. Sound boring? Not at all. The actions of this tiny mollusk become all-consuming . . . Everything about this slip of a book is unassuming, yet its petite size, prose, and characters rise like quiet giants from its pages. — BookBrowse.com
Bailey’s book is like a snail’s shell, with an unexpectedly touching friendship lying at its centre. Spiralling outwards are meditations on time, purpose and purposelessness, evolution and human survival. —Oxonian Review
SELECTED BOOKSELLER REVIEWS
"This slender volume is packed with peacefulnesss. [Bailey] receives a woodland snail as an unlikely companion and so begins a tale of natural history and human nature. She has done for the snail what Farley Mowat did for the wolf in Never Cry Wolf or what Vincent Gaston Dethier did for flies in To Know a Fly This is one sweet story of taking time to notice nature. Thank you, Ms. Bailey, I hope you are well." —Anderson's Bookshop, Chicago
The Long List. — Barnes & Noble
LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEWS
“Wait, did you say a wild snail? As opposed to domestic? Well, I'm intrigued.”
" Books for Dudes" A Library Journal column by Douglas Lord. Worth a look at the hilarious juxtaposition of book jackets showing the humble wild snail sandwiched between espionage and savages and for Doug Lord's very funny and touching review.
Review in the " Science & Technology" section.
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