How to Catch a Mole

How to Catch a Mole: And Find Yourself in Nature by Marc Hamer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On the cover of the thumbnail of this book the second part of the title reads "and find yourself in nature". I presume this was the author's preference. My hardcopy has a different subtitle "wisdom from a life in nature", which is simply preposterous. The author relates observations. He very clearly avoids drawing 'wisdom' from them. Indeed this 'wisdom' title runs contrary to the main point of the book: that observations are valuable and meaningful for their own sake, not as a means of obtaining wisdom or anything else for that matter. I guess it was added by an overly enthusiastic editor to try to boost sales? Title quibbles aside, I really enjoyed the book. Having done a bit of mole hunting myself, though far less intensely and successfully than the author, and also spent some time in, and thinking about, nature, I enjoyed reading about these things. The zen-like philosophy and poetry were ok, but the real enjoyment, came from the moles.

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Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City by Stella Dong
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Shanghai from 1850 to 1950 or so was an incredibly interesting place and time. This book captures the zeitgeist very well. Lots of well researched examples of life in the fast lane in Shanghai. It is however quite confusing because important historical events and figures are sort of sprinkled through the book like salt and pepper, rather than being introduced and analyzed clearly as a historian usually would. I was particularly interested to read this book because my maternal grandparents lived in China in the 30's and 40's (my mother was born there) departing Shanghai for the USA in April, 1949 and my wife's grandfather was born and raised in Pudong, before emigrating to Indonesia in the 1920's.

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China in Ten Words by Yu Hua
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Some memories and some thoughts about Chinese social media memes from a famous author. It is pretty clear that many, probably most, of the modern 'stories' he reports are not researched and probably only dimly, if at all, based in fact. This of course makes one wonder how careful he is with the 'memories'. The writing/translating is certainly engaging, making this an easy and enjoyable read. However since it is not researched at all, and more or less just whatever Yu Hua thinks lately, the insights into China are weak at best. For example, the 'copycat' phenomenon is certainly not a novel phenomenon related to the shift to consumerism in the PRC as reported here - fake 'Nikom' camera lenses were being hawked in Hong Kong when I was there in 1983. If you believe this book has given you great insight into modern China, you have been bamboozled. I suspect the content and lessons from the great leap and red guard period are more reliable. One of the most interesting insights i got from reading the book, apparently serendipitously since it was published pre-covid, was comparing his introductory description of immunization campaigns in China in the 1970's with today's efforts in response to the Coronavirus.

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