Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane

Robert Macfarlane seems to have established himself as a modern mystagogue, encouraging an increasingly urban and urbane society that seems to have become almost hermetically sealed against the manifestations of nature, to wander beyond the confines of the city and engage with the natural world. In his previous books he has espoused the glory of walking in the countryside along ancient (and often now almost hidden) routes, or to wander among mountains. His Landscapes laid out the extent to which our language is strewn with references (all too often now sunk beneath our recognition) to our relationship with the land.

In this latest book, he explores the mystery, and frequent beauty, of the world beneath the surface, whether exploring deep cavern networks under the Mendips, or the labyrinthine system of tunnels that exists beneath Paris. In one section he visits a laboratory that is trying to explore the furthest depths of the cosmos and explore ‘drk matter’, counter-intuitively based hundreds of feet below the earth, to prevent extraneous ‘noise’ distorting the data under review. Macfarlane has a great feel for language, writing with a clarity and accessibility that does not hamper his passion. 

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Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane can be purchased through Amazon.