If you are an avid reader, when a new book by one of your favorite authors comes out, you may hold off diving into it until you can give it your full attention. At least I often wait to open a much-anticipated book, like a present left in its wrapper. For me, one of those favorites is Robert Macfarlane, a superbly gifted and perceptive British author, now in his forties, a fellow at Cambridge University, a husband and father. When the American edition of his latest book, Underland: A Deep Time Journey, was published in June 2019, I bought a hard cover copy right away, and placed it on the must-be-read shelf. It arrived at a hectic time for me, so there the book waited, a promised pleasure, awaiting a moment when the pace of my life would slow enough to allow for a leisurely, savoring reading. That moment arrived in the cruel April of 2020, when the COVID-19 scourge forced me--and millions of others--to shelter at home. At last, I opened this much-anticipated book, and read a few rich, revelatory pages each day. What a great pleasure it provided, amid the havoc and suffering wrought by the coronavirus--a reminder, through its artistry and insight, of what we are capable of at our best. Here is my review.
Underland by Robert Macfarlane

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In previous books such as Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, and The Old Ways, British author Robert Macfarlane has written vivid, engrossing accounts of his journeys on the surface of Earth, from valley floors to snowcapped peaks. In Underland, he delves below ground, into caves, mines, burial mounds, catacombs, the entrails of cities, the moulins of glaciers, a nuclear waste storage site, and other subterranean realms. He is an intrepid explorer, and a gifted narrator--excellent company for anyone who enjoys superb prose and vicarious adventure. He is also a subtle thinker, as he reflects on the ways in which humans have left their marks on Earth, and Earth in turn has shaped our imagination and cultures.



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