Reviews
I began this book with the thrill of realizing that Robert Macfarlane has over the years and books charted the heights and breadth of human travel before plumbing the depths--in crevasses, caves, mines, chasms--in this exquisite book about what lies beneath. I ended it with wonder at his ability to evoke so vividly places to which I and probably you will never go, and at the eeriness of the places themselves and the sense of vast scale they restore to us at a time when it can feel like the world has shrunken around us., I began this book with the thrill of realizing that Robert Macfarlane has over the years and books charted the heights and breadth of human travel before plumbing the depths in this exquisite book about what lies beneath. I ended it with wonder at his ability to evoke so vividly places to which I and probably you will never go, and the sense of vast scale they restore to us at a time when it can feel like the world has shrunken around us., Robert Macfarlane is a magician with words. In Underland he shows us how to see in the dark. His writing is like a vortex...once caught, you're pulled deeper and deeper with each page., Beautifully written and wise, this haunting book is a treasure by one of earth's keenest celebrants. Its unique spell is irresistible., Robert Macfarlane writes of his astonishing subterranean explorations with such wondrous, indelible power that you remember what he sees as if you saw it yourself. Underland is a profound reckoning with humankind's self-imperiled position in nature's eternal order. At once thrilling and soulful, raw and erudite, it is a book of revelations., Beautifully written and wise, this haunting book is a treasure, both as personal memoir by one of earth's keenest celebrants, and as an eye-opening odyssey into parts of the planet we recoil from or never knew existed. It reads like a seamless dive, crawl, and trek through deep time, in sense-rich landscapes, accompanied by fascinating views of the human saga. Its unique spell is irresistible., Underland is a devastating act of witness, a clear, cogent, lyrical examination of the darknesses invisible beneath our feet, both geographical and eschatological; it is blazingly vivid about the terror and grandeur of both the natural world and the consequences of human destructiveness upon the Earth. But the book's great power comes from Robert Macfarlane's deliberate turn away from despair and a simple narrative of human evildoing, and toward a more deliberate, loving, and luminous sense of awe., A gifted storyteller and poetic writer...Wherever [Macfarlane] travels, he enhances our sense of wonder., Underland is a devastating act of witness and a clear, cogent, lyrical examination of the darknesses invisible beneath our feet., Astonishing...A powerful, epic journey for anyone wondering about the world below and all around us and, perhaps more important, for those who aren't., Reading Macfarlane connects us to dazzling new worlds. It's a connection that brings, more than anything else, joy., Underland is a profound reckoning with humankind's self-imperiled position in nature's eternal order. At once thrilling and soulful, raw and erudite, it is a book of revelations., Robert Macfarlane has long provided us with some of the most distinctive and sensitive thinking about how humans understand and experience the terrestrial world. In turning his attention to the subterranean in Underland, he has delivered his most urgent, universal, and expansive book yet., Robert Macfarlane's writing reminds us of the astonishing variety of things you can see when you go at walking speed, and of how strange and rich the world is.
