The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

autobiography memoir nature nonfiction snail

Summary (from Amazon): "In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Tova Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her 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 understanding of her own place in the world. Intrigued by the snail's molluscan anatomy, cryptic defenses, clear decision making, hydraulic locomotion, and courtship activities, Bailey becomes an astute and amused observer, offering a candid and engaging look into the curious life of this underappreciated small animal.The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world can illuminate our own human existence, while providing an appreciation of what it means to be fully alive."

Reviews:
Orion: https://orionmagazine.org/review/the-sound-of-a-wild-snail-eating/

Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nina-sankovitch/the-beautiful-sound-of-a-_b_710413.html

Interviews:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129475625

http://www.readmeblogsite.net/2013/11/21/interview-with-elisabeth-tova-bailey-author-of-the-sound-of-a-wild-snail-eating-text-publishing/

http://biophiliccities.org/interview-with-elisabeth-t-bailey/

Author's Website: http://www.elisabethtovabailey.net/

Common Woodland snail information: (Neohilix albolabris):
https://www.carnegiemnh.org/science/mollusks/va_neohelix_albolabris.html

Videos:
Video: Snail eating a mushroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtUioCEVx7U
Video from the author: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf2suzMV_ME

How to make a Terrarium (from Marissa): https://www.momtastic.com/diy/527559-make-snail-terrarium/

Discussion Questions from author: 
http://elisabethtovabailey.net/files/WildSnailDiscussionQuestions.pdf

Discussion Questions: (Please check back)

(Photos from author)

Tip of the Iceberg by Mark Adams

Tip of the Iceberg by Mark Adams

Alaska autobiography environment memoir Muir nature nonfiction travel

Summary ( Amazon):
"In 1899, railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organized a most unusual summer voyage to the wilds of Alaska: He converted a steamship into a luxury "floating university," populated by some of America's best and brightest scientists and writers, including the anti-capitalist eco-prophet John Muir. Those aboard encountered a land of immeasurable beauty and impending environmental calamity. More than a hundred years later, Alaska is still America's most sublime wilderness, both the lure that draws one million tourists annually on Inside Passage cruises and as a natural resources larder waiting to be raided. As ever, it remains a magnet for weirdos and dreamers.

Armed with Dramamine and an industrial-strength mosquito net, Mark Adams sets out to retrace the 1899 expedition. Traveling town to town by water, Adams ventures three thousand miles north through Wrangell, Juneau, and Glacier Bay, then continues west into the colder and stranger regions of the Aleutians and the Arctic Circle. Along the way, he encounters dozens of unusual characters (and a couple of very hungry bears) and investigates how lessons learned in 1899 might relate to Alaska's current struggles in adapting to the pressures of a changing climate and world."

Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mark-adams/tip-of-the-iceberg/

Publisher Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-101-98510-6

(E.H. Harriman - Wikipedia)

PBS: "Harriman Expedition Retraced": https://www.pbs.org/harriman/1899/1899.html
and movie by Bullfrog Films: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/hmanhv.html.

(https://www.ninilchikcabinsandrv.com/2015/04/the-1899-harriman-alaska-expedition/)

Interviews:
Powell Books: https://www.powells.com/post/qa/powells-qa-mark-adams-author-of-tip-of-the-iceberg

Penguin Random House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJgWQOxaVPM

(alaskacollection.com)

"A pair of northeast looking photographs, both taken from the same location on the west shoreline of Muir Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska showing the changes that have occurred to Muir Glacier during the 113 years between September 2, 1892 and August 11, 2005. The 1892 photograph shows the more than 100-meter (328-feet) high, more than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) wide tidewater terminus of the glacier with a face capped by angular séracs. Some icebergs, evidence of recent calving, can be seen floating in Muir Inlet. The mountain located right-of-center is Mount Wright. Mount Case is in the background. Note the absence of vegetation. (H. F. Reid photograph, muir1892_417, courtesy of National Snow and Ice Data Center). In the 2005 photograph, Muir Glacier is no longer visible, as it has retreated more than 50 kilometers (31 miles).  During the interval between photographs, Muir Glacier ceased to have a tidewater terminus. Note the lack of floating ice and the abundant vegetation on many slopes throughout the photograph. (USGS Photograph by Bruce F. Molnia)."

https://www2.usgs.gov/climate_landuse/glaciers/repeat_photography.asp

Author's website: https://www.markadamsbooks.com/

Kim Heacox, "one of Alaska's best know writers": http://kimheacox.com/

Discussion Questions: (John and Heidi will be leading the discussion.)

1.     What is your experience with and knowledge about Alaska?

2.     Discuss the reasons that Harriman wanted to mount the expedition to Alaska in 1899. How did the invited participants who joined him reflect those reasons?

3.     John Muir may be seen as a key contributor to this adventure. In what ways did he impact the trip? Discuss some of the wonderful stories about Muir in this book.

4.     One of the author’s goals was to recreate the Harriman journey. To what extent did he accomplish this? What were some of the changes since Harriman, and also things that did not change?

5.     John Muir even back in the late 1800s was observing glacier retreat in Alaska and found even some of the maps he was using showed that the glacial coastline had changed since the maps had been drawn 150 years before.  How did this book affect your view of climate change and the relative roles of human impact versus nature?

6.     How has resources extraction versus nature preservation shaped Alaska as we know it today, for example, gold mining, oil extraction, fishing, lumbering, trapping, national park/forest creation, etc.

7.     How did the occupation by Europeans and Americans affect the native populations and their lifestyles? How has it changed even today compared to 100 years ago?

8.     How did this book change or affect how you have experienced or perceived Alaska?

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

memoir nature

Summary: (Amazon): The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. It details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amid woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts.

Current Reviews and Articles for the Bicentennial and more:

Washington Post: "Why I Still Love Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden'": https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/why-i-still-love-henry-david-thoreaus-walden/2017/07/12/7b52c35e-66fc-11e7-9928-22d00a47778f_story.html?utm_term=.614cd5c9f42a

The New Yorker: "Pond Scum": 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/pond-scum

The New York Times: "The True American": 

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/08/17/henry-david-thoreau-true-american/

The New York Times: "What's the Muck of Walden Pond tells us about our Planet" :

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/opinion/sunday/what-the-muck-of-walden-pond-tells-us-about-our-planet.html

The Guardian, "Pee and pesticides: Thoreau's Walden Pond in Trouble" :https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/06/pee-and-pesticides-henry-david-thoreau-walden-pond-in-trouble-warn-scientists

The Walden Woods Project: https://www.walden.org/thoreau/

The Thoreau Society: https://www.thoreausociety.org/

Walden Quotes:

"Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth."

"Things do not change; we change."

"Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations."

Discussion Questions: (Questions written by and discussion to be led by Richard Myers)

1.      Why did Thoreau go to Walden?   Was he, as some people have claimed, a recluse or hermit?

2.     Would you consider doing something similar today?

3.     What do you think of his claim in the section on “Economy” that “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”?   Does this equally apply to today?

4.     Have “men become the tools of their tools” as Thoreau claims?

5.     How might we follow Thoreau’s admonition to “simplify, simplify” today?

6.     How does Thoreau’s observation that “there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root” apply to his time?  To our time?

7.     How might you, or most Americans today, respond to Thoreau’s thought that “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude”?  How do you think Thoreau would respond to our constantly noisy world today?

8.     What technology does Thoreau focus on as an intrusion into the peace of Walden Pond?  How does this fit into the idea of the Anthropocene (not a term Thoreau would have been familiar with)?  Is there a similar technology you would point to today as being particularly disruptive of society?

9.     In the section, “The Ponds,” Thoreau claims that “a lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature.”  What aspect of the landscape particularly attracts you?

10.  Would you agree with Thoreau when he states, “I have no doubt that is part of the destiny of the human race. . . to leave off eating animals.”?

11.  What is your favorite section or idea in Walden?