The Old Man and the Sea review

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with that there is”

It’s such a simple story — a man trying to catch fish — written without much fanfare. Few adverbs and I doubt there is a single metaphor in this book. But how we do one thing is how we do everything. And this is a battle of stoic man versus a big fish. Old methods and motorboats, of aging and youth, of experience and luck, of the journey and the destination, of pride and humiliation, locals and tourists. About life when nobody is watching.

Like the other hunting-for-a-fish classic, Moby Dick (although Herman Melville takes it to 800 pages), it takes one subject and looks at so many sides of it. And when the tale is through, you’ve briefly lived another life.

Latest

The Path and Meaning

The Path and Meaning

“We walk down the path in Xikeng.” Three years ago, I started a note with that sentence. We visited a row of villages in the south of Zhejiang, and Xikeng (西坑) was at the end of the day — the least touristified town of them all. The village had dozens of old buildings, sliced by […]
February 4, 2026
Kunshan Diorama

Kunshan Diorama

Today, I’m visiting Zhengyi Old Street (正仪老街) in Kunshan — a city wedged in between Suzhou and Shanghai. This old street is a leftover slice in between other parts properly planned by the city. On the horizon, I can see construction cranes, as if they are threatening the area; ‘we are coming to you next’. […]
January 17, 2026
Hyperreality

Hyperreality

It’s 06:30 in the morning and I’m driving to the San Gabriel Mountains, north of Los Angeles. I’ve been trying to sleep after an exhausting week at CES, but I’m too excited for this hike and can’t wait to depart the Airbnb we’re in. Every visit to the United States is an adventure. The most […]
January 15, 2026
In Praise Of Writing (And the Case Against AI)

In Praise Of Writing (And the Case Against AI)

If George Orwell, one of the best essayists, were alive today, he’d be firmly against AI. Not because of 1984 or ‘Big Brother’, but because in ‘Why I Write’, he listed four motives for writing; Historical impulse Political purpose Aesthetic enthusiasm Egoism   Neither of these motives survives if you let AI do the writing […]
January 14, 2026