Scan barcode
A review by slightlyliterary
Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene by Matthew Schneider-Mayerson
5.0
Eating Chilli Crab is a collection of twelve essays on the environment, with each zooming in and analysing the different narratives of Singapore that many of us citizens are familiar with. These subjects range from our beloved otters and tigers to land reclamation, and also touch on more hot topics like Semakau Island and Jewel Changi.
True to the blurb's word, all of these well-crafted essays provide fresh and modern perspectives of the topics brought up while also giving historical and cultural context. Additionally, rather than simply categorising these issues as environmental, these essays collectively highlight the complexity and connection of such issues to a country's society and political scene.
Reading this has not only taught me a lot about Singapore-specific environment issues, but has also showed me how important it is to think more critically about the things we have come to accept as the norm; e.g. we're marketed as and proud to be called a Garden City, but do our core values reflect it as such? What about land reclamation, or our national landfill? We know about them, but do we truly understand the effects they have on both local and overseas ecosystems? What is the reason behind our apathy towards these issues?
If I could I would love to expand on all the things brought up in each essay, but I think that would make this too lengthy of a review—all I can say is that each essay gives us valuable insight on things we have never deeply thought about; they are evidently written with a lot of passion on the writers' part, but not at the cost of objectivity. They also give us room to reflect, while suggesting ways in which society can proceed and work together as a whole to truly be more sustainable. Moreover, these essays are cleverly arranged so that central themes (Singapore's core values) are introduced and then brilliantly intertwined into later topics to showcase how these themes affect the way we see these issues.
This is another book that I'd highly recommend all Singaporeans to read and reflect on, regardless of whether you consider yourself an environmentalist or not.
True to the blurb's word, all of these well-crafted essays provide fresh and modern perspectives of the topics brought up while also giving historical and cultural context. Additionally, rather than simply categorising these issues as environmental, these essays collectively highlight the complexity and connection of such issues to a country's society and political scene.
Reading this has not only taught me a lot about Singapore-specific environment issues, but has also showed me how important it is to think more critically about the things we have come to accept as the norm; e.g. we're marketed as and proud to be called a Garden City, but do our core values reflect it as such? What about land reclamation, or our national landfill? We know about them, but do we truly understand the effects they have on both local and overseas ecosystems? What is the reason behind our apathy towards these issues?
If I could I would love to expand on all the things brought up in each essay, but I think that would make this too lengthy of a review—all I can say is that each essay gives us valuable insight on things we have never deeply thought about; they are evidently written with a lot of passion on the writers' part, but not at the cost of objectivity. They also give us room to reflect, while suggesting ways in which society can proceed and work together as a whole to truly be more sustainable. Moreover, these essays are cleverly arranged so that central themes (Singapore's core values) are introduced and then brilliantly intertwined into later topics to showcase how these themes affect the way we see these issues.
This is another book that I'd highly recommend all Singaporeans to read and reflect on, regardless of whether you consider yourself an environmentalist or not.