Cleavers and Butterflies: Incoming!
Today is the four-year anniversary of The Cleaver and the Butterfly.
As it happens, in an eerie display of synchronicity, last night two readers forwarded me a link to Why I Use A Chinese Cleaver More Than Any Other Knife, a story in the New York Times’ Wirecutter section that was originally published almost a year ago. Although sadly lacking in Zhuangzi references, it still makes for useful reading.
And just last week, I listened to an amazing podcast about Monarch butterflies from the folks who produce Big Biology (an extremely geeky and entertaining ongoing exploration of the latest research in evolutionary biology). Strangely enough, the podcast also made no reference to a famous philosopher who dreamt he was a butterfly (or was it the other way around?)
Nonetheless, I interpret this happy juxtaposition of avatars of transformation as a positive augury.
In other news, I am just 50 subscribers away from hitting the 1000 mark. There’s been some churn of late, as a substantial boost in subscriptions sparked by my New York Times story was followed by the first wave of un-subscriptions since this newsletter began after I started publishing stories about James Flint and the perils of interpretation. I guess maybe soybeans aren’t for everyone? Or perhaps I should write more about bicycles and exercise motivation?
But first, I need to study up on the evolutionary biology of soybeans.
Here’s to another thoroughly enjoyable year.