The Books That Moved Me (Vol.2)

I know. The book is called The Golden Mole and yet, the picture I have chosen is quite clearly of a golden seahorse.

Firstly, no picture of golden moles in Unsplash. Secondly, it doesn't matter that it's a picture of a seahorse and not a golden mole because the seahorse is still representative of the remarkable creatures which Rundell chooses to highlight in her excellent book, The Golden Mole, subtitled And Other Living Treasure.

I have to admit that this is not a book I would necessarily have sought out but life is nothing if not serendipitous and so, when flicking through TV channels one night, I came across the venerable Chris Packham, British naturalist and TV personality, discussing how all of us MUST read The Golden Mole. I had no idea what this book was about and initially thought that it would be some stuffy natural history book which would preach and patronise. But I was very wrong. When Chris spouted some examples of facts that he had encountered on his reading of it, I could not resist.

I have always been of a view that we share the world with other creatures. I'm not for the dominance thing that permeates our nature, or the nature of some of us, at least. I get pleasure from seeing things in their natural habitat and really do want to see them thrive. I think that man is arrogant in a lot of ways and the planet seems to be telling us that in the fact that it is heating up - manifestation of frustration perhaps?

Anyway, the intention of this story is not to philosophise but to share a wonderful book and that is what The Golden Mole is - a truly wonderful book. It was one of my rare five star reads.

So, why? Firstly, I didn't know about some of the animals in this book. I had never heard of a golden mole and thought that they were all just little brown bundles of velvet, but no, they come in gold too. At the moment.

And there are many other animals of note that roam the globe chosen by Rundell to discuss here. Rundell organises her book into chapters dedicated to each of the creatures that she has chosen to highight. Not all of them are lesser known - she has chapters on the giraffe, the bear, the tuna but then she also has chapters on more exotic and unusual animals like the pangolin (as pictured below), the narwhal and as mentioned, the Greenland shark, of which I have to profess, I had never heard. An illustration is used at the start of each chapter of the animal in question before Rundell parades their attributes and unique qualities in front of you for your perusal and fascination.

You will see that there is a diverse choice from the natural world indeed but what do all of these animals have in common? They are all endangered. And the cause? Us .

I love to learn and I love to be told something new and this book is full of remarkable facts about some of the extraordinary animals with which we inhabit the planet; for instance, and I note Chris Packham's enthusiasm about this one, did you know that the Greenland shark is estimated to live for hundreds of years and that there is currently a female who could be older than 500 years old? Which means that she was swimming around when Shakespeare was writing. I know! The mind reels at its contemplation.

And Rundell conveys this information in such a light and entertaining way that you cannot fail to be delighted and amused. Humour permeates Rundell’s text throughout, although it is important to add that this does nothing to detract from the seriousness and validity of her message. How many times have you been in a stuffy lecture room, fighting the weight of your eyelids as somebody drones on about things that you know are important but are delivered in such a way as to render them dull and monotonous? When you entered that room, you had an interest; at the end of the lecture, you couldn't care less. It's all about the delivery and Rundell's is exemplary.

However fun it may be to read, this book is asking us to change our ways. Rundell is pleading with us in her beguiling way to look around and look deeply, towards the many species that inhabit this space with us, and acknowledge that they have just as much right to be here as us. It is paramount that we respect them and not use them either as a resource for exploitation, or an environmental nuisance to be eradicated to make way for economic growth but that they are, in fact, our companions on this amazing planet. One of the things that comes out of reading this is that we are putting money ahead of the essence of life and this includes our own, those of humans. I've also learnt that a lot of these animals are being killed because of the powers believed to be contained in their body parts, to increase the sex drives and prowess of our kind. Bizarre but true.

I would love for more of you to read The Golden Mole. I have always had an appreciation for nature but certainly more so now. I don't want anything to be wiped out and Rundell's point is clear: we are all in this together, every creature on this Earth but some of us have more power to control than others. With consideration, rational behaviour and constraint, we could all continue together on Earth for a lot longer, some of these species having been here a lot longer than us.

And if we don't? Well, we are all parts of one whole and anything fractured is bound to suffer.