“I could never have guessed what would get me through this past year—a woodland snail and its offspring; I honestly don’t think I would have made it otherwise. Watching another creature go about its life . . . somehow gave me, the watcher, purpose too. If life mattered to the snail and the snail mattered to me, it meant something in my life mattered, so I kept on . . . Snails may seem like tiny, even insignificant things compared to the wars going on around the world or a million other human problems, but they may well outlive our own species.”

Everyone has heard that old adage to “never judge a book by its cover”. Well, in this case, not only did I judge the book by its cover, but also (and perhaps more so) by its title. I didn’t even bother with the technicality of learning what the book was even about - I just dove in and I’m so glad I did.

Snails are very interesting creatures. At least this is what Elisabeth Tova Bailey discovered by chance and circumstance. The chance involved a friend bringing her a gift of a wild violet that she had potted along with a small, brown garden snail. The circumstance was that Bailey was nearly completely bedridden with a mysterious years long illness caused by some sort of viral infection. For several weeks this snail would become her companion and during this time she would spend much of it learning all about gastropods.

While I did learn some interesting tid-bits about snails, what this book really teaches is the power of nature. Even in something as insignificant seeming as a snail.