How to Catch a Mole

Reviews

“We even come to identify with the elusive, fossorial animal, its plight not so different from our own.”
—Margaret Roach, The New York Times

“This is an extraordinary book: part natural history, part memoir, part poetry—all entirely gorgeous. I've read no other book like this. Its beauty and heartbreak will stay with me for a long time. PS: the author stops killing moles, thank goodness.”
—Sy Montgomery,New York Times bestselling author of How to Be a Good Creature and The Soul of an Octopus

“[Marc Hamer’s] wonderful book, How to Catch a Mole, is a beautiful, elegiac ode to a remarkable creature. Each page is filled with wonder, love, regret, humility and a sense of wonder (and oneness) with nature.”
—Washington Post

“Informative and effortlessly readable... Ultimately a reflection on humanity’s fraught but sustaining relationship with nature."
—Publishers Weekly

“How to Catch a Mole is a small book of many things. In quiet, crystalline prose, it blends memoir, keen observations of nature, and ruminations about life, aging and death.”
—Wall Street Journal

"Discovering Hamer’s nature writing par excellence is a godsend."
—Foreword Reviews

“Welsh molecatcher, gardener—and debut author—does not disappoint. How to Catch a Mole soars on the plain-spoken yet eloquent observations of its author and incorporates poetry and philosophy.”
—Toronto Star

“How to Catch a Mole is the best book I’ve read this decade. It will catch your breath and make your heart pound a little faster. It’s beyond precious.”
—Harrowsmith

“This is a wonderful book about our relationship with the earth, with other animals and with our own troubled humanity. It has taught me a lot. I feel great love for it.”
—Max Porter, author of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

“It is rare to encounter such respect and understanding of nature.”
—Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Life of Cows

“Marc Hamer's uplifting writings shed some light on the velvety creatures burrowing beneath our countryside.”
—National Geographic Traveller 

“A beguiling mixture: part autobiography, part handbook, part travel book, part philosophical treatise. I’m happy to report that it succeeds on each level.”
—Daily Mail

“Marc tells his story and explores what moles, and a life in nature, can tell us about our own humanity and our search for contentment.”
—Sunday Express 

“A lovely little book. I read it through, then found myself going back and reading parts again.”
—Lloyd Kahn, publisher and author of Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter

“Discovering Hamer’s nature writing par excellence is a godsend.”
—Foreword Reviews (Starred Review)

“Lessons learned from a life outdoors encourage the reader to dwell in the small, mostly ordinary but sometimes extraordinary, moments that make up an existence.”
—Booklist

“The dreamy lyricism of How to Catch a Mole recalls the memoirs of Laurie Lee, another wanderer through the British countryside who affirmed that life’s most vital moments often unfold in open spaces.”
—Christian Science Monitor