Underland

"Nearly a century later, Robert Macfarlane — a rare writer of Carson’s sensibility, who rises to the level of enchanter — extends a lyrical invitation to a vicarious journey into another mysterious earthly universe of all-pervading darkness with Underland: A Deep Time Journey ( public library )."

"On the subject of the natural world, the patron saint of nature writing Robert Macfarlane had a new, hotly-anticipated book out: Underland: A Deep Time Journey . Having climbed the highest heights in his debut Mountains of the Mind , Macfarlane now dives down to the lowest of the lows. He goes caving in limestone caverns deep underground, rattles through salt mines under the sea in carts and stumbles across (literal) underground subcultures in the Paris catacombs, all interwoven with learned digressions into geological epochs and classical conceptions of the underworld. What can I say? Macfarlane is a most remarkable writer. And if you like the sound of Underland, I imagine you will also enjoy Kathleen Jamie’s Surfacing , which I have only just begun but am already crowing about to anyone who will listen. Jamie is a fantastic Scottish poet and essayist, and Surfacing is her third essay collection after the wonderful Findings and Sightlines , both of which are very highly regarded. Charles Foster also enthused about it in his selection of the best nature writing of 2019 . David Wallace-Wells’ The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future is essentially a work of climate change eschatology, and doesn’t make for a relaxing read before bed (in fact, it made me so anxious I had to put it away for a few weeks and come back to it.) But it’s an essential text for anyone with an interest in the environment, or, well, anyone alive on the Earth today."

"Underland takes you deep underground to stare down the Anthropocene. Robert Macfarlane brutally confronts the realities of climate change by exploring some of the most inaccessible corners of the world – and takes you along for the ride. There’s not a whole lot of optimism in his examination of humanity’s cumulative impact on nature, and yet he’s still able to see so much beauty. This work often reads more like poetry – and taps into some of the most ancient human tendencies to both bury and extract."

"I am halfway through Robert Macfarlane's "Underland: A Deep Time Journey," and it's beautiful."

"Robert Macfarlane's "Underland: A Deep Time Journey." Macfarlane has been on a decade-and-a-half-long journey to restore us to presence and mindfulness of place. This latest volume, extending his peerless, lyrical attention to the subterranean, is profound in every sense of the word."