How to Catch a Mole: Wisdom from a Life Lived in Nature

An ABA Indie Next Selection

“An extraordinary book; I've read no other like it. Thank goodness Marc Hamer stopped killing moles and sat down to write.”
—Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus

At once a highly original memoir and an ode to the outdoors, this unexpected—and delightfully strange—book reveals, at its core, a rare vision of the natural world.

Kneeling in a muddy field, clutching something soft and blue-black, Marc Hamer vows he will stop trapping moles—forever. In this earnest, understated, and sublime work of nonfiction literature, the molecatcher shares what led him to this strange career: from sleeping among hedges as a homeless teen, to toiling on the railway, to weeding windswept gardens in Wales.

Hamer infuses his wanderings with radiant poetry and stark, simple observations on nature’s oft-ignored details. He also reveals how to catch a mole—a craft long kept secret by its masters—and burrows into the unusual lives of his muses.

Moles, we learn, are colorblind. Their blood holds unusual amounts of carbon dioxide. Their vast tunnel networks are intricate and deceptive. And, like Hamer, they work alone.