A Slow Passion

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When BBC Radio 4's "Material World" announced a search for the UK's top amateur scientist, few anticipated that the winning experiment would involve garden snails. Ruth Brooks posed the intriguing question: Do snails have a homing instinct? Her online diaries captivated the nation as she documented her adventures with these slimy creatures. What began as a quest to eliminate the snails decimating her hostas transformed into a fascinating exploration of snail life. After relocating some of the worst offenders to a distant wood and painting their shells with nail varnish, Ruth discovered they returned home. This sparked an obsession, leading the grandmother-turned-scientist to stealthily collect painted snails during nighttime missions, delve into their surprisingly romantic sex lives, and ultimately submit an application for a national home science competition. With charming illustrations, this narrative is a delightful and humorous investigation into the hidden lives of snails, offering a fresh perspective on the smaller, slower aspects of life.