Snail by Peter Williams

Snail by Peter Williams

For most of us, snails do not elicit feelings of warmth or affection. Apart from our repugnance at its appearance, our relationship with the snail has been influenced by the harm it has inflicted over the years on our garden seedlings. The author intends to change our perspectives on this little but much maligned creature.

'there is more to the snail than meets the eye-on-a-stalkFrom the use of marine-snail shells in antiquity and the discovery of the snail's suprisingly complex anatomy in 18th-century dissections, to the symbolism of monopods in painting and literature (they stand, or rather slime, for slowness as a "way of life"), this book exerts a hypnotic fascination.' - The Guardian '[an] enjoyable PR job for the mollusc' - The Independent 'In Peter Williams' Snail, we discover that human-mollusc interactions go far further back than allotments - all the way to some of the earliest forms of money and adornment. Admirably the book also forced me to reconsider my vigorous prejudice against the slimy, seedling-munching beasts. In fact, the opening paragraph is so striking that it alone won me over.' - BBC Wildlife magazine 'Snails seems an unpromising subject for a book; yet Peter Williams presents these much-maligned creatures in a sympathetic light. Many of his illustrations bear witness to the beauty of their shells, and the evolution, growth and geometry of these structures makes a fascinating story.' - International Zoo News

Peter Williams, a retired family doctor and until recently Chairman and President of the Medical Defence Union, has a life-long interest in natural history and the contribution animals make to our culture. He is author of Snail in the Animal series.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781861895288
ISBN 10	1861895283
Title	Snail
Author	Peter Williams
Series	Animal
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Reaktion Books
Year published	2009-10-01
Number of pages	168
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.