Gastropods, Viruses, and Deep Time in The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

means of a deep time help us see ourselves as part of a web of gift, inheritance and legacy stretching over millions of years past and millions to come, bringing us to consider what we are leaving behind for epochs and beings that will follow us. The evolution of a species is shaped. . .by its unique history of viral and bacterial pathogens. By rearranging cellular DNA, pathogens can switch genes on and off and thus impact the traits of a species’ future generations. . .We all have genes that for some reason are in the “off” mode; perhaps scientists will someday figure out how to flip these switches, and we’ll each be able to choose other interesting animal traits. . . And how. . .did the mysterious virus that had felled me change life inside the cells of my own body? Would there be a switch I could flip to instantly restore my health? (89)