conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know a description for a book titled The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating about Starred, Review, Europe with the genre: Science & Math, Biological Sciences?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: *Starred Review* At age 34, the author was stricken with a mysterious virus while on a trip to Europe. Her healthy life had been full of activity, and now just the thought of getting up to get something was exhaustive. When a friend found some violets and brought her one in a pot, she also added a live snail below the violets leaves. the author wondered why she needed a snail, but after square holes began to appear in a letter propped on the violets pot, it occurred to the author that the snail needed food. She put a withered flower in the saucer below, and when the snail began to eat, the author realized that she could hear it eatingit was the sound of someone very small munching on celery. Soon the author realized she was attached, the snail providing an oasis of calm for her frantic and frustrated thoughts. She worried that the snails world was too artificial, so her caregiver created a woodland terrarium. Not only did the snail have a new home but the author had a new game: hide-and-seek with a snail. She began to read about snails, learning from scientists, early naturalists, poets, and writers, and found herself beginning to understand a snails world. And when her snail began to lay eggs, the author discovered that she might be the first person to record observations of a snail tending its eggs. This beautiful little book will not only make snail lovers of its readers, it will make them appreciate the small things in life. --Nancy Bent