Field Guide to the Slug

by David G. Gordon, Western Society of Malacologists

It's hard to imagine life without a good field guide to slugs, but Gordon, thank god, wrote a doozy of one. In a mere 48 pages, Gordon covers slug anatomy, the slug family tree, the eating habits of slugs, slugs in your garden, slugs in the wild and slugs at home. Lucid and interesting, this is the slug guide to beat all others.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Field Guides

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2002

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I have definitely enjoyed reading some of David G. Gordon's non-fiction tomes on so-called creepy crawlies (basically invertebrate animals like insects, worms, spiders and the like) and have found in particular both his The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook and his The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised (And Least Understood) Creature on Earth not only wonderfully enlightening but also penned in an engaging and reading interest retaining manner (and in fact sufficiently entertaining and also with enough humour to in my opinion equally appeal to younger readers above the age of eleven or twelve), sorry, but the above is most definitely and unfortunately NOT AT ALL the case with his, with David G. Gordon's Field Guide to the Slug.

For even though David G. Gordon presents very much factual (and mostly scientific) information on slugs (and on snails as well of course) in Field Guide to the Slug, HOW Gordon writes about them, how he presents and features these creatures (even though content wise I actually find snails and slugs really interesting), this is ALL so intensely, so draggingly tediously rendered with regard to style and penmanship that even though Field Guide to the Slug is only around forty pages long (and thus kind of like an average picture book), it has actually taken me more than a month to read Field Guide to the Slug (as the book, as Field Guide to the Slug always was incredibly easy to put down). And well, this salient fact alone should pretty clearly demonstrate that I have just not found Field Guide to the Slug all that textually enjoyable, and that an interesting topic and interesting contents do not really mean anything much if they are presented draggingly (and with a bit of a pun most definitely intended here) as proverbially slow as a slug or a snail. And considering that David G. Gordon also does not in my humble opinion ever point out in Field Guide to the Slug with nearly enough criticism the ignorant, the environmentally totally tone deaf individuals who use poison, who use toxic pesticides on their gardens to control, to kill slugs and snails, little caring that snails and slugs are important parts of ecosystems and that poisoned snails and slugs will not only die horribly but will also poison the birds, lizards etc. that hunt and consume snails and slugs as prey, as food, I really can and will only consider two stars for Field Guide to the Slug (and also to not recommend this book except with major reservations).

[HoopoeGirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Know thy enemy, so said Sun Tzu. Well, now I know your name, European Black Slug, and I shall henceforth use it with derision and scorn.

I know now how to recognize you by the plentiful ridges atop your foot. I know the many colors you try to hide behind and the bright orange skirt you often sport for a night out on the town. I know that up to 27,000 tiny slug teeth lie poised on your radula, armed and ready to rasp through my precious flora in a never-ending quest to fill your voracious stomach.

And while your Gastropoda Pulmonata brethren the Banana Slug and Great Gray Garden Slug keep you company, it is you, the Arion ater, causing the bulk of destruction to my precious strawberries and peas, leaving your telltale slime calling card behind. (Oh, I'm sorry, does that word offend you? Your prefer mucus? Yeah, well I prefer lettuce leaves free of your foot snot.)

I also know to dry rub your slime off my hands like rubber cement, rather than letting a single drop of water enter the mix and gum up the works. And you better watch out, because my slug control method was specifically called out by the Western Society of Malacologists in this extremely informative and surprisingly entertaining field guide. I may lose the war, but there will be a battle every night.

You. Me. A vase of soapy water and pasta tongs. Bring it on.

[Roman Stadtler · Rating 5 out of 5]

" . . these animals smell with their bodies, come equipped with more teeth than a shark, and can glide without difficulty over broken glass, propelled by the rhythmic contractions of a singular muscular foot. Their blood is green, and while other animals wrap themselves in fur, feathers, or scales, a slug protects it's body with an all-encompassing layer of slime."

Ah, strange and lovely sluggies! Being a true Pacific Northwestener - I can, perhaps, claim that lofty title after spending most of my life in Washington and Oregon, even though I was born in San Jose - I love the wonderful slug, just as I love rain, dark storms and 50 degree weather over the boring interminable sunlight and lousy 80 degree California heat. I'd much rather visit stormy, dreary Orkney sea cliffs than a sunny Caribbean beach any day. The lowly slug fits right in with my taste for the wet woods and stormy skies. It's such an odd little critter, alien-looking, almost Lovecraftian with it's limbless locomotion, sensitive quickly retracting eye stalks, and slimy excretions. Innocuous, unless you're a gardener (I'm not, so feh upon their complaints; more power to the slugs!), but imagine one embiggened, fifty times it's natural size! What colossal terror! The mind reels.

The summer before seventh grade, my family had just moved to Kingston, WA and the first local event that stands out in my memory was the annual fall slug race. What glory! Such drama, as the slugs inched, some imperceptibly, generally toward the finish line! The adults (humans, not the slugs) could go drink a beer and come back, and usually not miss much. Actually, contrary to common beliefs, slugs can book it pretty well, if they like, covering a few feet in five minutes. Anyway, since that most significant sporting event of my youth, I've loved slugs. The cute lil' hermaphroditic gastropod molluscs are fascinatingly ooky and cool, as is this field guide. It's a perfect amount of info on this Pacific NW (I've never met a person from here that actually uses "PNW;" that seems to be the mark of an outsider or recent transplant) mascot, enough to satisfy the curiosity of most and inspire more in-depth study for the future gastropodologist. No, I don't know if that's a real word, but it oughta be.

One of my favorite fun slug facts is that Great Grey garden slugs sometimes mate twined around each other, hanging from thick mucus tendrils off branches. Imagine a pleasant woodland walk , turning past a tree into a forest thick with hanging slimy slug sex acts, that viscous goo sticking to your arms, your face! Horrors.

That's nothing compared to apophallation, though.

[Alix Huntington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really interesting and easy to read. I learned a lot of fascinating things about slugs and snails. It would be great if they could add a section with picture identifications.

[Anna Ur mom Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

slugs

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

HoopoeGirl said it all in her review: know thy enemy. Here in the Pacific Northwest, that enemy is most assuredly the slug. If you're a gardener, that is. After reading this surprisingly informative guide, I can now respect and understand my foe - though my hatred for spotting their slimy little bodies all over my prized strawberries remains undiminished. A great book for anyone wanting to learn about these ubiquitous PNW denizens.

[Jevana · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely, exquisite illustrations and a tender overview of "our slow-moving friends"

[Lafcadio · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thin volume, yet it probably everything you ever wanted to know about slugs, plus some stuff you didn't.