Seven

Ten years ago, I read the book Made to Stick, enthralled. This week, I read another book of Chip Heath: Making Number Counts. This is even more entertaining. 

The best secret to take away from this book is nobody really understands numbers. We can recognize 1, 2, and 3 at a glance, or 5 if we’re lucky. But after that, we can’t picture the numbers past 5, and would much prefer to know that the 2020 Australian wildfires affecting “half the size of Japan” and not “186,000 square kilometers.” 

To use an example of communicating with patient about platelet count, we might say, “A normal platelet count ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood. Your recent blood work showed that your platelet count is 40,000. That’s way too low.” 

It’s hard, right? After all, our patients don’t need to know exactly how many platelets are in a microliter. They only need meaningful landmarks. 

A better way of mapping the landscape would be: “Normal scores for platelet counts are expressed in thousands, and they range between 150 to 450. At 50, we won’t let you travel. At 10, you’re at risk for spontaneous bleeding. You’re at 40.” 

That’s neat and simple. Nothing more and nothing less.

Speaking of which, there’s one more lesson about converting abstract numbers into concrete objects in this book. It’s the example of understanding electricity consumption. To help people grasp the idea of carbon fluorescent light-bulbs, we can’t simply state that carbon fluorescent light-bulbs cost seven time more than traditional incandescent bulbs. We have to emphasize that they use only a quarter of electricity. Another focus would be the ease of replacement, because carbon fluorescent light-bulbs are expected to last for 7 years; that’s way better than replacing bulbs every year, particularly for those hard-to-get-to sockets. Now, how can we craft an easier-to-understand concept about 7 years? 

“Replace your lights with carbon fluorescent light-bulbs when your child is learning how to walk. The next time you’d have to replace the bulb, your child would be in second grade, learning about oxygen. The next time, they’d be taking driver’s ed.”

Ten

Each year, then Nature's 10 list highlights the stories of people behind major science development over the past year. That's the top 10 stories of science, technology, engineering and medicine, which are shaping our world.

There are countless top 10 topics at the end of each December. Think of your top 10 lists, or even top 10 school acquaintances, top 10 Instagram posts. 

For my rankings, I like to rate the top 10 books I have read each year. Here are mine:

Uptime by Laura Mae Martin

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

James by Percival Everett

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up by Evanna Lynch

An Immense World by Ed Young

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science by Kate Zernike

From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brooks 

Recovery

Many people fall in love with running and travel at the same time. Ask those Aussies running from Bondi to Coogee beaches and you know what I mean. The equivalent for Hong Kong runners would be the iconic MacLehose Trail stretching from San Kung to Tuen Mun.

After my fall injury at another trail one week ago, I decided to take a break and slow down. That's part of the reason I went for a walk – instead of run – along the Section 4 of the MacLehose Trail today. The chance to stretch my legs and savour the scenic vistas, by itself, is mesmerising. 

As I picked up the pace near the midpoint of my route and made a dash up a few steps with my recovering left knee, there's something inexplicably satisfying about a short run without pain. I dared not to run too much, giving way to a sort of modesty. More importantly, an entirely humble feeling of gratitude. 

Reunion

Long gone were the days when my daughter's friends stay close all the time. Long gone was even the thought of a reunion.

Their friends and classmates go everywhere, from Malaysia to Ottawa. I started my morning round a quarter past seven this morning, as I wished to join her reunion with friends returning for winter break. The four of them had been studying the same class since kindergarten. Two of them study in the same school now, and two in Canada.

Am I hearing their laughter after all these years today? Yeah, I am. Their laughter never leaves you wondering the half life of friendship. That's what I and she treasure. Very much.

Wedding

Oh, to be a reader during festive holiday. Just don't want to have topics that are too serious. 

As previously recommended by the New York Times, the story by Alison Esbach gives us the option of learning through books rather than lecture courses. Her new novel The Wedding People is a deeply satisfying one.

The comedic plot of a week-long wedding party, in a nineteenth-century hotel sitting on the edge of a cliff at Rhode Island, isn't to crack jokes but to engage in an interweaving journey of different guests. The story has become funnier in direct proportion to the darkness of guest's life including one recently divorced adjunct literature professor who wished to kill herself. 

The book becomes an absurdly revelatory exploration of how we should learn to take care of our own needs, and then our encounters.

Choice

If there’s a rule in our life task, I suppose it would be best gleaned from the Grant Study, which followed the lives of hundreds of Harvard-educated men. That is a longitudinal study tracking people all the way from undergraduate class to their death, decades later.

In his book How To Know a Person, the New York Times Opinion columnist David Brooks described the study findings and mentioned how a person moves from core task to a leadership position. A teacher in the classroom, for instance, goes on to become an administrator in the office. A reporter goes on to be an editor. 

Not all of us can accept or like these promotions. Many a time, teachers love direct interaction with students and prefer to preserve their sense of self. All choices involve loss: If you take administration job, you don’t take that teaching one. Administration duty takes people away from the core task that lets a teacher fall in love with the profession in the first place. It really is impossible to know which job is a better one. Listening to your heart is one way, but be prepared that the second job on the next rung is often paid better.

Body

The biggest joy with trail running comes from putting one leg ahead of another on rugged terrain. The biggest mistake is going too quick, as I learned yesterday from the training with my running partner along the Hong Kong Trail. With lush green shaded paths, imposing panoramic views of beach, reservoirs and isles, it's hard to pass up the opportunity if you're ever given one, and more so if the partner happens to be a kidney transplant patient of mine. And whilst first-timers might feel more comfortable soaking up the beauty of nature without adrenaline, there will always be people like me who prefers to strive for speed. 

Whoa, I crossed the finish line with multiple wounds and a swollen knee from tripping.

My daughter couldn't help reading me an essay after seeing what had happened to my body. That's about a runner's determined descent at breakneck speed. "Time stopped," the paragraph begins, "a protruding branch yanked at Benson's ankle. Gravity ripped Benson down to the ground. The crowd silenced, and now the only noise that could be heard was a sickening crack of Benson's bones upon the ground. He didn't move again." I wanted to correct her reading: Wait a sec, Jasmine, that story's not about Benson. It's me.

This reminds me of the thriller novel All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham. She writes with ravaging bluntness about the body feelings. It is a torture with knowing spouse's extramarital affairs, she tells us. "My nails squeezing into my sides, making it hurt.," she observes, "I imagined them leaving little crescent-shaped slits in my stomach like bite marks, sinking deep into my skin." 

The author describes the feeling of divorce such as forgetting the smell of aftershave in detail. "Not anymore, though. Now, whenever I see him, I taste something metallic. Like sucking into pennies or licking a fresh wound, tasting blood on my tongue."

That's the essence of crafting story: utterly body sensation.

Ride

Listen: Jasmine has turned fifteen. 

She has come up with her own way to celebrate her birthday this year. Her idea to ride bike for 20 kilometres along the waterfront is a special way to hang out with friends. 

A dad or mum knows very well this means fun for teenagers exclusively. We simply offered backup for the girls: we figured out the way to gather enough bikes for six of them (including Locobike from bike-sharing provider), the means to transport the bikes to the starting point, and the many quinceañero what-ifs.

And that's it. That's what parents should do. When our daughter grows up, we stay close enough but not too close. 

I spent the morning hiking Hong Kong Trail, but didn't go all the way till late afternoon in case she needs help. Well, she didn't.

Wonderland

Long ago, when I first visited Long Valley in the northern part of Sheung Shui, I was fascinated by this astonishingly beautiful freshwater agricultural wetland habitat. This is virtually synonymous with birds' paradise.

The little and great egrets, grey herons, white wagtails, and sandpipers have kept me coming back with my camera. Arguably the cutest water bird, the black-winged stilt is a species that is delightful to watch and take pictures. I enjoy hearing them calling, watching them swing bills side to side in water for meals. Viewing the long-legged waders is comforting beyond words: elegant in poise, earthy and mysterious all at once.

All of which sounds just dandy. But when I went again two years ago, the construction site workers told me off. My heart skipped a beat after seeing the "ongoing construction" sign. I began to wonder what this might mean in the context of endangered ecosystem. It's no secret that North America has lost 3 billion birds from habitat loss and climate change in the past 50 years. It is no better in Hong Kong. The proposed San Tin Technopole near the border with mainland China could have threatened the survival of up to 117 bird species. That means the loss of a bird habitat area nearly 7 times the size of Long Valley.

I don't remember how I trepassed the enclosed area for a quick farewell to black-winged stilts. It hardly matters. I'd felt the same jolt of disappointment as Alice's wonderland adventure when she came upon a great hallway lined with locked doors. She happened to find a key to open a small door, and began to cry after she realised she could not fit through the door. 

The pool of Alice's tears somehow led her to shrink and enter the garden. The same can be said of the voice of Hong Kong environmental groups: that's more or less similar to the crying of Alice. Tears might or might not work in real life. I returned to Long Valley this weekend after the good news that it's now reopened and established as the Long Valley Nature Park. That seems promising, but I told myself to get prepared for unpredictable future, like what Alice encountered after falling down a rabbit hole.