Underland: A Deep Time Journey

This astonishing, fascinating book is the first Macfarlane I have read. I don't think it will be the last. A writer of rare power, yet immensely readable, Macfarlane takes on a journey to the world beneath our feet. The book is split into three “chambers” and within each one the author weaves together natural history, myth, superstition, archaeology and an account of his adventures in the underworld.

Macfarlane starts with caving, probably the most familiar underground space to the reader, delving deep into systems that take him far back in geological time. Vast cathedrals of stone full of majesty and loneliness. A deep world, alien and full of dangers. He recounts some of the fatal accidents that have befallen cavers over the years. A hideous death.

The exploration of the catacombs and hidden spaces beneath the city of Paris is truly memorable, and Macfarlane conveys the claustrophobia and wonder brilliantly. Each adventure is taken in the company of seasoned explorers, in this case urban ones, who have mapped the under-city and guard its secrets zealously.

On and on he goes, into ever deeper places, strange netherworlds hidden from sunlight. He tells of underground cities built hundreds of years ago in Turkey; of sinkholes and glaciers hidden within a mountain in the Balkans. Pushing himself to the limit physically, Macfarlane is not afraid to put himself in danger to see what he needs to see. Another memorable adventure is a solo trek in the dead of winter on a remote Norwegian island to see handprints on a cave wall, created thousands of years ago. Some of the earliest art know to man.

Finally he visits the retreating Glaciers on Greenland, dropping down moulins to see deep inside the great ice mountains. And then to modern man-made deep chambers where nuclear waste is to be stored, our own deadly legacy to future generations.

It's a fantastic book, and a great read, that really makes you think about the world, our place in it and the effect we as humans are having upon the planet.

Very highly recommended.