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Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet
A panoramic investigation of the subterranean landscape, from sacred caves and derelict subway stations to nuclear bunkers and ancient underground cities—an exploration of the history, science, architecture, and mythology of the worlds beneath our feet
When Will Hunt was sixteen years old, he discovered an abandoned tunnel that ran beneath his house in Providence, Rhode Island. His first tunnel trips inspired a lifelong fascination with exploring underground worlds, from the derelict subway stations and sewers of New York City to sacred caves, catacombs, tombs, bunkers, and ancient underground cities in more than twenty countries around the world. Underground is both a personal exploration of Hunt’s obsession and a panoramic study of how we are all connected to the underground, how caves and other dark hollows have frightened and enchanted us through the ages.
In a narrative spanning continents and epochs, Hunt follows a cast of subterraneaphiles who have dedicated themselves to investigating underground worlds. He tracks the origins of life with a team of NASA microbiologists a mile beneath the Black Hills, camps out for three days with urban explorers in the catacombs and sewers of Paris, descends with an Aboriginal family into a 35,000-year-old mine in the Australian outback, and glimpses a sacred sculpture molded by Paleolithic artists in the depths of a cave in the Pyrenees.
Each adventure is woven with findings in mythology and anthropology, natural history and neuroscience, literature and philosophy. In elegant and graceful prose, Hunt cures us of our “surface chauvinism,” opening our eyes to the planet’s hidden dimension. He reveals how the subterranean landscape gave shape to our most basic beliefs and guided how we think about ourselves as humans. At bottom, Underground is a meditation on the allure of darkness, the power of mystery, and our eternal desire to connect with what we cannot see.
When Will Hunt was sixteen years old, he discovered an abandoned tunnel that ran beneath his house in Providence, Rhode Island. His first tunnel trips inspired a lifelong fascination with exploring underground worlds, from the derelict subway stations and sewers of New York City to sacred caves, catacombs, tombs, bunkers, and ancient underground cities in more than twenty countries around the world. Underground is both a personal exploration of Hunt’s obsession and a panoramic study of how we are all connected to the underground, how caves and other dark hollows have frightened and enchanted us through the ages.
In a narrative spanning continents and epochs, Hunt follows a cast of subterraneaphiles who have dedicated themselves to investigating underground worlds. He tracks the origins of life with a team of NASA microbiologists a mile beneath the Black Hills, camps out for three days with urban explorers in the catacombs and sewers of Paris, descends with an Aboriginal family into a 35,000-year-old mine in the Australian outback, and glimpses a sacred sculpture molded by Paleolithic artists in the depths of a cave in the Pyrenees.
Each adventure is woven with findings in mythology and anthropology, natural history and neuroscience, literature and philosophy. In elegant and graceful prose, Hunt cures us of our “surface chauvinism,” opening our eyes to the planet’s hidden dimension. He reveals how the subterranean landscape gave shape to our most basic beliefs and guided how we think about ourselves as humans. At bottom, Underground is a meditation on the allure of darkness, the power of mystery, and our eternal desire to connect with what we cannot see.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 29, 2019
411 people are currently reading
8108 people want to read
About the author
Will Hunt
2 books141 followersWill Hunt’s writing, photography, and audio storytelling have appeared in The Economist, The Paris Review Daily, The Atavist, The Guardian, Discover, Audible Originals, and Outside, among other places. A recipient of grants and fellowships from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the MacDowell Colony, he is currently a visiting scholar at the NYU Institute for Public Knowledge. Underground is his first book.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 440 reviews
January 19, 2019
To be fair, I wrote this book ;)
October 29, 2023
Will Hunt spent time in the N.Y. underground, the subway tunnels. Revs did as well. Revs was a graffiti artist who spent many years using N.Y. City as a canvas. He became famous, but not in a way that made him money. Then Revs took a ladder, paints, and other tools of his trade into the subway tunnels at night when no one was watching. He picked out the most obscure sections, tose filled with darkness, to begin writing his book. With a paint roller and yellow or white paint, he made large book pages; his ladder came in handy. Then he took a spray can of black paint and began writing his life down. Will Hunt copied down his writings, but hed found it dangerous to dodge the trains. He met Revs once, and he tried to ask him questions about his art in those tunnels, but Revs wasn’t interested in talking. You can find some of those pages online by typing Revs, N.Y. City, Subway, and Diary.
Will Hunt had spent years checking out underground cities and caves. It was quite a journey. In Paris he found the underground city and ventured below. It was what people called the catacombs, only it really wasn’t a burial place, not the kind we think of. He walked for miles and miles, and found rooms upon rooms. He learned that some of the people of Paris go into these catacombs to have parties, to even watch movies. Then there was a room where he found human remains, bones. Long ago there had been a plague. There were so many deaths that they could not bury all the bodies, so they threw the bodies down a hole above ground that landed the bodies in a room below, down in the catacombs. Life had lost its sacredness.
Then Will went to Australia to see a cave there, one that the Aboriginal people were still able to protect. It was an ochre mine. The Aboriginals believe that they came up from these caves in the beginning of time. Even some of the Native Americans have this belief. There are actually creatures living in that darkness, creatures with no eyes. I ask, “How can a human, who had evolved in the caves, more than likely with no eyes, come out into the light and survive?” I have this vision of their sitting at the mouth of the cave in the sunlight feeling its warmth and the fresh air, fearing to venture no further, but after thousands upon thousands of years, developing eye sight. I especially like their belief that they went upon the earth along songlines (paths) singing songs, bringing the nature into existence. I think of the Creator as singing songs that brought the universe into existence.
My favorite chapters were those on the caves, a topic that did not draw me to this book; it was the underground cities that had caught my interest. When Will writes, you see it all, you feel it all. First there were the cave paintings, which I had always found to be beautiful when seeing them in books or on the walls of a class room at college. Then there were the two bison sculptures made of clay from the cave. Whenever people came into the cave, Tuc d'Audoubert, they felt a sense of worship. A sacredness. It was in these caves that the cave dwellers had their religious ceremonies. They danced themselves into trances, seen by the footprints that had remained in the cave all these years. But what is more, being in a dark cave, in total darkness can cause the mind to expand. You get visions.
And so I end this review with a couple of my own stories:
When I was growing up in Paso Robles, CA there was the Cumming’s Mansion. Kids had stories about it. It was now abandoned, the man had, and his wife was in a rest home. Teenagers used to break into the house, so Mary and I thought, “Let’s try it.” We went to the back of the house during the day and began tearing boards off one of its windows. We climbed in and looked around. People had thrown things around. It was a mess. We went into the kitchen, and I saw a door, opened it, and found it led down to the cellar. I could see wine kegs, but that was all. We had not brought a flashlight, so we didn’t venture down the dark stairs. If we had, perhaps we would have found the tunnel, but we had not heard of it or perhaps we would have both brought flashlights.
Years later my mom sent me a newspaper article on the Cumming’s Mansion because she had known of my interest in it. I wish that I still had that article. It said that Mr. Cummings had dug a tunnel from the basement to the lot across the street as an escape route. Who knows what he feared? Anyway, some high school kids had been in the tunnel and had started a fire by accident, so they closed up the opening to the tunnel. The house is no longer there, and it certainly would have made a wonderful museum.
Then my husband told me a story of going to Chinatown in S.F. right after he first got out of Nam. He was with his high school friend Jesse. Jesse’s older brother, Raymond, had asked them to come with him for protection. They packed guns. To Raymond led them into a Chinese restaurant, through the back room and then down stairs leading to an underground city. There was a very long hallway that had rooms on each side, and he could smell opium coming from the rooms. Raymond then went into a room by himself while they stayed out in the hall. Raymond later told him that there were prostitutes and opium dens down there and you could walk for a long the paths, so my interest in this book. What I didn’t expect was that this was also about caves that the author had visited, and this section of the book turned out to be much more fascinating.
Will Hunt had spent years checking out underground cities and caves. It was quite a journey. In Paris he found the underground city and ventured below. It was what people called the catacombs, only it really wasn’t a burial place, not the kind we think of. He walked for miles and miles, and found rooms upon rooms. He learned that some of the people of Paris go into these catacombs to have parties, to even watch movies. Then there was a room where he found human remains, bones. Long ago there had been a plague. There were so many deaths that they could not bury all the bodies, so they threw the bodies down a hole above ground that landed the bodies in a room below, down in the catacombs. Life had lost its sacredness.
Then Will went to Australia to see a cave there, one that the Aboriginal people were still able to protect. It was an ochre mine. The Aboriginals believe that they came up from these caves in the beginning of time. Even some of the Native Americans have this belief. There are actually creatures living in that darkness, creatures with no eyes. I ask, “How can a human, who had evolved in the caves, more than likely with no eyes, come out into the light and survive?” I have this vision of their sitting at the mouth of the cave in the sunlight feeling its warmth and the fresh air, fearing to venture no further, but after thousands upon thousands of years, developing eye sight. I especially like their belief that they went upon the earth along songlines (paths) singing songs, bringing the nature into existence. I think of the Creator as singing songs that brought the universe into existence.
My favorite chapters were those on the caves, a topic that did not draw me to this book; it was the underground cities that had caught my interest. When Will writes, you see it all, you feel it all. First there were the cave paintings, which I had always found to be beautiful when seeing them in books or on the walls of a class room at college. Then there were the two bison sculptures made of clay from the cave. Whenever people came into the cave, Tuc d'Audoubert, they felt a sense of worship. A sacredness. It was in these caves that the cave dwellers had their religious ceremonies. They danced themselves into trances, seen by the footprints that had remained in the cave all these years. But what is more, being in a dark cave, in total darkness can cause the mind to expand. You get visions.
And so I end this review with a couple of my own stories:
When I was growing up in Paso Robles, CA there was the Cumming’s Mansion. Kids had stories about it. It was now abandoned, the man had, and his wife was in a rest home. Teenagers used to break into the house, so Mary and I thought, “Let’s try it.” We went to the back of the house during the day and began tearing boards off one of its windows. We climbed in and looked around. People had thrown things around. It was a mess. We went into the kitchen, and I saw a door, opened it, and found it led down to the cellar. I could see wine kegs, but that was all. We had not brought a flashlight, so we didn’t venture down the dark stairs. If we had, perhaps we would have found the tunnel, but we had not heard of it or perhaps we would have both brought flashlights.
Years later my mom sent me a newspaper article on the Cumming’s Mansion because she had known of my interest in it. I wish that I still had that article. It said that Mr. Cummings had dug a tunnel from the basement to the lot across the street as an escape route. Who knows what he feared? Anyway, some high school kids had been in the tunnel and had started a fire by accident, so they closed up the opening to the tunnel. The house is no longer there, and it certainly would have made a wonderful museum.
Then my husband told me a story of going to Chinatown in S.F. right after he first got out of Nam. He was with his high school friend Jesse. Jesse’s older brother, Raymond, had asked them to come with him for protection. They packed guns. To Raymond led them into a Chinese restaurant, through the back room and then down stairs leading to an underground city. There was a very long hallway that had rooms on each side, and he could smell opium coming from the rooms. Raymond then went into a room by himself while they stayed out in the hall. Raymond later told him that there were prostitutes and opium dens down there and you could walk for a long the paths, so my interest in this book. What I didn’t expect was that this was also about caves that the author had visited, and this section of the book turned out to be much more fascinating.
October 3, 2018
Very cool book about the unique world of our subterranean landscape. Whether it be subway systems, mines, catacombs, underground tunnels, etc.... This is a fascinating world tour penned by an urban explorer who documents the amazing underground world that exists and that we rarely even notice or think about. A quick read but a very fun one that I found entertaining and enlightening. Definitely pick this one up when it comes out in January of 2019.
February 17, 2019
Imagine yourself on an afternoon hike, stooping to push aside branches blocking a walk that meandered off the beaten path, and upon removing the pile of debris feeling the breath of a world beneath you coming from a small obscure opening in the ground. It takes a certain type of person to venture into this opening.
Interesting and well-researched; more philosophical than I expected. Author Will Hunt, I discovered, is equal parts thrill-seeker, philosopher, and academic. The mythology and other pieces of history the author connects to the world-wide sites he visits are worth thinking about. The author goes deep, both literally and figuratively and does a good job of accomplishing a well thought out and structured book about the subject of *worlds* (civilizations, creations, megacosms).
Where I expected more of a look into unknown subterranean discoveries through the eyes of a thrill-seeking explorer, I was educated rather than merely thrilled. True, it is thrilling to think of new discoveries beneath the feet we think are standing on terra firma. I was impressed by the information Hunt covers and the many diverse locations he shares. More importantly, I was humbled by the reminder of the stewardship we have over our earth, and that we seem to be drifting away from the sense of respect and appreciation for our planet that generations before us have had, especially indigenous peoples.
Interesting and well-researched; more philosophical than I expected. Author Will Hunt, I discovered, is equal parts thrill-seeker, philosopher, and academic. The mythology and other pieces of history the author connects to the world-wide sites he visits are worth thinking about. The author goes deep, both literally and figuratively and does a good job of accomplishing a well thought out and structured book about the subject of *worlds* (civilizations, creations, megacosms).
REVS’ autobiography, in the farthest folds of NY's subway
Descending into underground of Paris
Where I expected more of a look into unknown subterranean discoveries through the eyes of a thrill-seeking explorer, I was educated rather than merely thrilled. True, it is thrilling to think of new discoveries beneath the feet we think are standing on terra firma. I was impressed by the information Hunt covers and the many diverse locations he shares. More importantly, I was humbled by the reminder of the stewardship we have over our earth, and that we seem to be drifting away from the sense of respect and appreciation for our planet that generations before us have had, especially indigenous peoples.
The Panel of the Great Black Cow, in the Cave at Lascaux
Unicorn, in the Hall of the BullsAs we move more towards what we term scientific, we forget other possibilities. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Aboriginal Rock ArtCiting some mind-bending theories, Hunt discusses scientists that have supported the possibility of life beginning actually beneath the surface of what was a violently evolving planet. The primordial incubation of life in the womb of Mother Earth aligns with the comparative mythology of several indigenous peoples. Whether you are Team Core Accretion or Team Disk Instability, the fact that these two theories of how our Earth formed are still "duking it out" adds to an interesting examination of how close what we think we know matches to how much we actually know, and how close mythology walks in the shadow of science.
August 2, 2020
This little book is amazing as it mixes several aspects of the author's adventures caving all over the world. As a young teenager he found a tunnel in his back yard which he explored and became an obsessive adventurer of the underground world.
He started with the world below the streets of NYC which hold many secrets; graffiti, concealed and disused stations, people who are a culture of their own who live in the darkness, and much more. He then moved on to Paris and the famous catacombs that criss cross the metropolis.
He expanded his travels and visited caves, usually in rural areas, all over the world. He talked with the indigenous populations and learned of the religious meanings connected to these caves. He meditated in the darkness and measured the physical/psychological changes that occurred as he sat in complete darkness as much as a mile below the surface. He found that it was a frightening but enlightening experience as he saw hallucinations and heard voices and music.
His mixture of exploration and the psychological effects of deep caving are fascinating. It may be a rather obscure subject but is well worth the read. Recommended.
He started with the world below the streets of NYC which hold many secrets; graffiti, concealed and disused stations, people who are a culture of their own who live in the darkness, and much more. He then moved on to Paris and the famous catacombs that criss cross the metropolis.
He expanded his travels and visited caves, usually in rural areas, all over the world. He talked with the indigenous populations and learned of the religious meanings connected to these caves. He meditated in the darkness and measured the physical/psychological changes that occurred as he sat in complete darkness as much as a mile below the surface. He found that it was a frightening but enlightening experience as he saw hallucinations and heard voices and music.
His mixture of exploration and the psychological effects of deep caving are fascinating. It may be a rather obscure subject but is well worth the read. Recommended.
October 12, 2024
This was a deeply profound book. It was also a love letter from the author to tunnels and caves and all else that lurks under our feet. The author is obsessed to put it mildly, but thank goodness because it’s only through obsessed people that we learn things.
The author descends where few have or ever will to report back on what is down there. What he finds is strange and beautiful and mysterious. What he finds is our history and our religion. What he finds is each of us, whether we know it or not. For this reason, this book will resonate with everyone that reads it.
This book was structured wonderfully. It was a magical cocktail of adventure, history, mythology, art, anthropology, biology, and neuroscience.
The author tells us of his first descent into the underworld when a kid in Rhode Island. It was a moment akin to when eighth grade Bill Gates walked into his classroom to find a computer. Both the author and Gates were hooked by “it.”
What is going on down there has fascinated me ever since I read of Alice jumping down that rabbit hole. Her adventures still resonate with us in part because of the story and the language, but also because deep down inside, we are all fascinated with the world beneath our feet. And the more I read this book, the more I was hooked.
Though most of us feel like aliens when going underground, there is for some a feeling of coming home again. Even when that home is like a haunted house with spiders the size of chihuahuas.
After the author shares his first adventure under his childhood home in Rhode Island he moves on to underground adventures around the world.
His journey underground Paris was fascinating. Above ground are all these historic landmarks and below, just as fascinating, are elegant archways and ornate spiral staircases. Rooms underground have things like a sculpture akin to Michelangelo’s David, gargoyles, disco balls. In 2004, a movie theater was found adjacent to a bar, lounge, workshop and a small dining room.
When the author wrote of camping underground, it was hard to imagine how one could sleep under such conditions. The author described it like camping on the moon with no sounds, just miles of darkness where it’s always never o’clock.
When the author wrote of a man from 1818 named John Cleves Symmes who declared his intent to lead a voyage to the interior of the earth to prove that it was hollow and habitable, I couldn’t help but think of Alice in Wonderland. While in the end, Symmes was considered a loon who wasted his life chasing fairy tales of underground lands, before that he sparked the imagination of many. It seems likely it sparked the imagination of the man that sparked the world’s imagination, the author of Alice in Wonderland. There is little doubt that tales from the likes of Jules Verne, HG Welles, and Frank Baum were sparked from Symmes too.
When the author ventures into the mines of Australia, things got really weird with miners appeasing the lord of the underworld by gifts and sacrifices and making figures to symbolize him. It was strange. Yet it is also beautiful how the aboriginal people see their ancestors as very much part of their world. They honor them in a way that our culture rarely does.
There were a lot of cool photographs in this book, one in particular struck me. It’s of a hand on a cave, it seemed so strangely present. The hand mark had been created via red ochre blown over the hand. It made me think of the handprints I have hanging above my desk, nothing so sacred but from my childhood, my tiny hands on a red sheet of construction paper with fake white snow blown over them to leave my handprints red.
The book then jumps down the rabbit hole into the lives of burrowers. Those that start digging for a logical purpose and end up spending decades digging because something about being down there grabs them. And then the author wrote of underground castles and cities. It was just fascinating.
He also wrote of being lost and how that puts everything into question, including ones very nature. How being lost is a meditation you get up from and the world looks completely different. That is enlightenment. It also explains a lot of rituals which include being lost as part of transitioning into something or someone else.
I really liked mention of the graffiti artist who took more than 200 pages of his journal, or parts of those pages, and painted them all over, or rather under, the city. It spoke of ancient times as well as modern times. In reality, he hid them where hardly anyone will ever see them except those who are willing to venture into hidden away places. It was very punk rock.
The author then goes to look at ancient cave paintings. The entire chapter on underground art was seriously fascinating.
In the next chapter he wrote of the Jacques Cousteau of the underworld. Someone that lives in caves or underground for a time to test his reactions. The author then tried his own 24 hour experiment in darkness in a cave. Alongside this he wrote of our first studies of sensory depravation. Fascinating read all the way around.
For the last chapter, the author ventured to ancient Mayan grounds. It was fascinating to read about the Mayan’s making sacrifices in caves before they perished.
I know I keep using the word fascinating but the whole book seriously was just that.
In the end, the author makes the point that we as a people are obsessed with illumination, so much so we almost treat the unknown as criminal. When in truth, being lost in the dark is the only way we ever find ourselves. We so often forget there is beauty in what we cannot see or say.
The author descends where few have or ever will to report back on what is down there. What he finds is strange and beautiful and mysterious. What he finds is our history and our religion. What he finds is each of us, whether we know it or not. For this reason, this book will resonate with everyone that reads it.
This book was structured wonderfully. It was a magical cocktail of adventure, history, mythology, art, anthropology, biology, and neuroscience.
The author tells us of his first descent into the underworld when a kid in Rhode Island. It was a moment akin to when eighth grade Bill Gates walked into his classroom to find a computer. Both the author and Gates were hooked by “it.”
What is going on down there has fascinated me ever since I read of Alice jumping down that rabbit hole. Her adventures still resonate with us in part because of the story and the language, but also because deep down inside, we are all fascinated with the world beneath our feet. And the more I read this book, the more I was hooked.
Though most of us feel like aliens when going underground, there is for some a feeling of coming home again. Even when that home is like a haunted house with spiders the size of chihuahuas.
After the author shares his first adventure under his childhood home in Rhode Island he moves on to underground adventures around the world.
His journey underground Paris was fascinating. Above ground are all these historic landmarks and below, just as fascinating, are elegant archways and ornate spiral staircases. Rooms underground have things like a sculpture akin to Michelangelo’s David, gargoyles, disco balls. In 2004, a movie theater was found adjacent to a bar, lounge, workshop and a small dining room.
When the author wrote of camping underground, it was hard to imagine how one could sleep under such conditions. The author described it like camping on the moon with no sounds, just miles of darkness where it’s always never o’clock.
When the author wrote of a man from 1818 named John Cleves Symmes who declared his intent to lead a voyage to the interior of the earth to prove that it was hollow and habitable, I couldn’t help but think of Alice in Wonderland. While in the end, Symmes was considered a loon who wasted his life chasing fairy tales of underground lands, before that he sparked the imagination of many. It seems likely it sparked the imagination of the man that sparked the world’s imagination, the author of Alice in Wonderland. There is little doubt that tales from the likes of Jules Verne, HG Welles, and Frank Baum were sparked from Symmes too.
When the author ventures into the mines of Australia, things got really weird with miners appeasing the lord of the underworld by gifts and sacrifices and making figures to symbolize him. It was strange. Yet it is also beautiful how the aboriginal people see their ancestors as very much part of their world. They honor them in a way that our culture rarely does.
There were a lot of cool photographs in this book, one in particular struck me. It’s of a hand on a cave, it seemed so strangely present. The hand mark had been created via red ochre blown over the hand. It made me think of the handprints I have hanging above my desk, nothing so sacred but from my childhood, my tiny hands on a red sheet of construction paper with fake white snow blown over them to leave my handprints red.
The book then jumps down the rabbit hole into the lives of burrowers. Those that start digging for a logical purpose and end up spending decades digging because something about being down there grabs them. And then the author wrote of underground castles and cities. It was just fascinating.
He also wrote of being lost and how that puts everything into question, including ones very nature. How being lost is a meditation you get up from and the world looks completely different. That is enlightenment. It also explains a lot of rituals which include being lost as part of transitioning into something or someone else.
I really liked mention of the graffiti artist who took more than 200 pages of his journal, or parts of those pages, and painted them all over, or rather under, the city. It spoke of ancient times as well as modern times. In reality, he hid them where hardly anyone will ever see them except those who are willing to venture into hidden away places. It was very punk rock.
The author then goes to look at ancient cave paintings. The entire chapter on underground art was seriously fascinating.
In the next chapter he wrote of the Jacques Cousteau of the underworld. Someone that lives in caves or underground for a time to test his reactions. The author then tried his own 24 hour experiment in darkness in a cave. Alongside this he wrote of our first studies of sensory depravation. Fascinating read all the way around.
For the last chapter, the author ventured to ancient Mayan grounds. It was fascinating to read about the Mayan’s making sacrifices in caves before they perished.
I know I keep using the word fascinating but the whole book seriously was just that.
In the end, the author makes the point that we as a people are obsessed with illumination, so much so we almost treat the unknown as criminal. When in truth, being lost in the dark is the only way we ever find ourselves. We so often forget there is beauty in what we cannot see or say.
April 13, 2019
And this is why it is inadvisable to take recommendations from Overdrive, I guess, because I'm sure this book would be great for someone, but it was a resounding meh for me.
The book is part travelogue, part philosophical meandering, and here's the thing: I am always here for travel stories, but you have to earn your wittering on about the human psyche and the universal urge and blah blah numinous liminal holy blah. You also have to keep the ratio of actual narrative to things you think about when you can't sleep at night pretty high. Hunt does not do those things, and so this is not the book for me. The travel bits were interesting enough, but I am going to need to spend a LOT of time reading about spaceships and/or banging to take the taste of Hunt's Beliefs About Caves and the Way All Humans Feel About Them away.
The book is part travelogue, part philosophical meandering, and here's the thing: I am always here for travel stories, but you have to earn your wittering on about the human psyche and the universal urge and blah blah numinous liminal holy blah. You also have to keep the ratio of actual narrative to things you think about when you can't sleep at night pretty high. Hunt does not do those things, and so this is not the book for me. The travel bits were interesting enough, but I am going to need to spend a LOT of time reading about spaceships and/or banging to take the taste of Hunt's Beliefs About Caves and the Way All Humans Feel About Them away.
March 6, 2021
Dieses Buch ist für mich nicht zu besprechen ohne ständige Verweise auf das ähnliche und doch sehr andere Buch Im Unterland von MacFarlane. Im Vergleich zu MacFarlane finde ich dieses Buch viel lesbarer, viel stringenter, viel fesselnder. Dabei ist die Anlage sehr ähnlich: Kombiniert werden die eigenen Abenteuer im Untergrund mit recherchierten Fakten und literarischen Zitaten.
Was Hunt vermutlich am stärksten von MacFarlane unterscheidet ist, dass Im Untergrund viel weniger dem Genre Nature Writing zugeordnet werden kann. Das heißt aber auch, dass hier die kritische Haltung zu unserem Umgang mit natürlichen Ressourcen keine Rolle spielt (für mich einer der überzeugendsten Aspekte bei MacFarlane). Ein Oberbegriff bei Hunt könnte eher „Lost Places“ sein.
Bei den besuchten Orten gibt es durchaus Überschneidungen zu MacFarlanes Buch. Der Abstieg in die Pariser Katakomben gehört wohl in jedes Buch dieser Art und auch hier lasse ich mich gerne mitnehmen, auf den Spuren von Die Elenden und dem Fotografen Nadar. Die unterirdischen Städte in Kappadokien, bei MacFarlane nur flüchtig erwähnt, erfahren hier erfreulicherweise mehr Beachtung.
Besonders beeindruckend finde ich allerdings die New Yorker Geschichten. Bereits im ersten Kapitel erfährt man sehr viel über verwaiste Tunnel, Kanäle und Menschen, die zeitweise in den Tunneln lebten (Tunnel People). Das weckt immer wieder Assoziationen, zum Beispiel an Column McCanns Der Himmel unter der Stadt oder – bei Erwähnung der Kanäle zum alten Croton Reservoir – an E. L. Doctorows Das Wasserwerk..
In einem späteren Kapitel macht sich Hunt auf die Suche nach REVS. Dieser war in den 90er Jahren in den New Yorker U-Bahn-Tunneln unterwegs und hat ein ganzes Tagebuch auf dessen Wänden hinterlassen. Trotz spezieller Einsatzgruppe wurde er nie gefasst. Ja, nicht einmal seine Identität wurde bekannt. Quasi ein New Yorker Untergrund-Banky, im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes.
Kleiner Wermutstropfen: Hunts Buch bietet leider kein Literaturverzeichnis, das einem hilft den ganzen Verweisen und Zitaten nachzugehen. In der Hinsicht leistet MacFarlanes Im Unterland deutlich bessere Arbeit. Auch ein Inhaltsverzeichnis wäre hier hilfreich gewesen.
Was Hunt vermutlich am stärksten von MacFarlane unterscheidet ist, dass Im Untergrund viel weniger dem Genre Nature Writing zugeordnet werden kann. Das heißt aber auch, dass hier die kritische Haltung zu unserem Umgang mit natürlichen Ressourcen keine Rolle spielt (für mich einer der überzeugendsten Aspekte bei MacFarlane). Ein Oberbegriff bei Hunt könnte eher „Lost Places“ sein.
Bei den besuchten Orten gibt es durchaus Überschneidungen zu MacFarlanes Buch. Der Abstieg in die Pariser Katakomben gehört wohl in jedes Buch dieser Art und auch hier lasse ich mich gerne mitnehmen, auf den Spuren von Die Elenden und dem Fotografen Nadar. Die unterirdischen Städte in Kappadokien, bei MacFarlane nur flüchtig erwähnt, erfahren hier erfreulicherweise mehr Beachtung.
Besonders beeindruckend finde ich allerdings die New Yorker Geschichten. Bereits im ersten Kapitel erfährt man sehr viel über verwaiste Tunnel, Kanäle und Menschen, die zeitweise in den Tunneln lebten (Tunnel People). Das weckt immer wieder Assoziationen, zum Beispiel an Column McCanns Der Himmel unter der Stadt oder – bei Erwähnung der Kanäle zum alten Croton Reservoir – an E. L. Doctorows Das Wasserwerk..
In einem späteren Kapitel macht sich Hunt auf die Suche nach REVS. Dieser war in den 90er Jahren in den New Yorker U-Bahn-Tunneln unterwegs und hat ein ganzes Tagebuch auf dessen Wänden hinterlassen. Trotz spezieller Einsatzgruppe wurde er nie gefasst. Ja, nicht einmal seine Identität wurde bekannt. Quasi ein New Yorker Untergrund-Banky, im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes.
Kleiner Wermutstropfen: Hunts Buch bietet leider kein Literaturverzeichnis, das einem hilft den ganzen Verweisen und Zitaten nachzugehen. In der Hinsicht leistet MacFarlanes Im Unterland deutlich bessere Arbeit. Auch ein Inhaltsverzeichnis wäre hier hilfreich gewesen.
September 13, 2021
The blurb made me think this would be about caves & service tunnels. I'm interested in them & just how much of our infrastructure is hidden from us. Caves have a lot of interesting aspects too, but I abandoned this about 20% in since it's all about him & vapid descriptions of what he saw in his explorations. If I was into such explorations, perhaps this would appeal. Well narrated, but I'm just not interested in him.
February 2, 2019
Underground is one of the most poetic, breathtaking and ambitious books I have read in a long time. Hunt offers a delightful and unexpected journey, a fantastic expedition full of discoveries, surprising facts and wonderful anecdotes. He is a clever and tenacious explorer, who places himself as an illuminating guide through the most secretive and curious places in a world I never suspected could exist. It is a boundary-breaking tale set between past legends and rituals, secret tunnels alive right beneath our feet, sacred caves existing since eternity, and incredible scientific expeditions digging though the earth. I can't recommend enough this beautiful and surprising piece of work which I read from cover to cover in a chill of excitement and curiosity. Fantastic!!
December 29, 2018
One of the best works of non-fiction I've read in a while. Elegantly written, meticulously researched. Hunt went everywhere for this book! So many discoveries to be made about the world's caves, catacombs, mines, sewers and other holes in the ground. And it's beautifully illustrated. Recommend a hundred times over.
October 5, 2020
Durante buena parte del año he tenido dudas sobre qué libros van a acabar en las partes medias de mi Top 10 del año. Estoy bastante seguro de cuáles serán los primeros tres lugares y cuáles el 8, 9 y 10, pero llegué un momento a preocuparme porque no me encontraba con alguno que tuviera chances de ir en medio. Probablemente aquí ya haya terminado una parte de la búsqueda.
Éste es uno de esos libros de no ficción interpretativa donde el autor hace el viaje de rigor para explorar una serie de manifestaciones alrededor de una idea central. En este caso se trata de la relación de la humanidad con el mundo subterráneo, tanto natural como artificial. Desde la caótica maraña de infraestructura urbana hasta las minas y cuevas, Hunt hace una exploración que nos lleva de la mano por tratar de entender la fascinación que nos provocan esos lugares privados de luz. Y como esta idea central es una que me atrapa de forma suprema; en cuanto me enteré de su existencia y siendo honestos, de la editorial que lo publica y la calidad con la que tiende a hacerlo en este idioma, me lancé a comprarlo.
Desafortunadamente a este libro le pasó algo extraño que hizo que acabara mayormente desapercibido: se publicó al mismo tiempo que una obra muy parecida con mucho bombo y platillo y que además ganó muchos premios. Se trata de Underland (Bajotierra en español) de Robert McFarlane, el cual retrata más o menos lo mismo, con el mismo tipo de viajes, incluido el mismo a las catacumbas de París y, por lo que leo, con una prosa ilustrísima. No he tenido la gracia de leer el McFarlane todavía (influyó mucho que por alguna razón saliera éste en rústica en español en vez de en pasta dura, como el de Hunt) pero probablemente lo voy a acabar leyendo si le llega.
Y pues, al igual que pasó con el libro de Waterlog (Diarios del Agua), ésta es una reseña de un libro de no ficción que sirve mejor para explicar su rating que haciendo que se trate de mí. Lo siento.
Verán, amiguitos. Soy fanático de las cuevas. Probablemente desde que viera un diagrama en una vieja enciclopedia de Reader's Digest y la asociara con un laberinto (tema que también se trata en este libro), desarrollé una especie de picazón muy severa por conocer y explorar esos laberintos esculturales trabajados por el agua en el karst. Hasta ese entonces sólo había hecho una expedición bastante dócil a las cuevas de rigor del chilango promedio (sí, Cacahuamilpa), pero con el paso de los años he tenido la oportunidad de abrir un poco más mi experiencia.
Una de ellas fue en 2011, cuando en medio de un viaje por el Mayab que incluyó recorrer dos de mis estados favoritos del país y dos estados nación vecinos; mi hermana y yo tuvimos la buena idea de contratar un tour a la cueva ATM en Belice. Hunt hace exactamente lo mismo en el libro y no pude sino contrastar con alegría mi experiencia a la suya. El capítulo donde se relata la expedición de Hunt a la cueva ATM es el último del libro, donde el tema principal es la relación religiosa del hombre con las cuevas. El autor cuenta la reverencia y la gravedad y lo sagrado de la experiencia de bajar al Xibalbá. Ese día, 19 de Julio de 2011, fue una jornada no voy a decir que mística, pero sí de exagerada y frenética dicha. Nadar al interior de la cueva, seguir el camino del agua entre riachuelos y oquedades y luego salir a contemplar las cámaras con sus estalactitas y ofrendas, trepar por entre rocas y finalmente subir la escalera de metal para ir a conocer a la pobre muchacha que le tocó la de perder me hizo sentir increíblemente feliz, con un arrebato que en aquel año que estaba siendo difícil para mí reafirmó mi pasión por los espacios subterráneos.
Con esto quiero decir que este libro fue uno donde puedo decir que estoy muy feliz de haberlo leído porque me encuentro en sintonía con el autor, que entiendo esa picazón rayana en la experiencia trascendente de conocer aquello que nos cambia la perspectiva.
Éste es uno de esos libros de no ficción interpretativa donde el autor hace el viaje de rigor para explorar una serie de manifestaciones alrededor de una idea central. En este caso se trata de la relación de la humanidad con el mundo subterráneo, tanto natural como artificial. Desde la caótica maraña de infraestructura urbana hasta las minas y cuevas, Hunt hace una exploración que nos lleva de la mano por tratar de entender la fascinación que nos provocan esos lugares privados de luz. Y como esta idea central es una que me atrapa de forma suprema; en cuanto me enteré de su existencia y siendo honestos, de la editorial que lo publica y la calidad con la que tiende a hacerlo en este idioma, me lancé a comprarlo.
Desafortunadamente a este libro le pasó algo extraño que hizo que acabara mayormente desapercibido: se publicó al mismo tiempo que una obra muy parecida con mucho bombo y platillo y que además ganó muchos premios. Se trata de Underland (Bajotierra en español) de Robert McFarlane, el cual retrata más o menos lo mismo, con el mismo tipo de viajes, incluido el mismo a las catacumbas de París y, por lo que leo, con una prosa ilustrísima. No he tenido la gracia de leer el McFarlane todavía (influyó mucho que por alguna razón saliera éste en rústica en español en vez de en pasta dura, como el de Hunt) pero probablemente lo voy a acabar leyendo si le llega.
Y pues, al igual que pasó con el libro de Waterlog (Diarios del Agua), ésta es una reseña de un libro de no ficción que sirve mejor para explicar su rating que haciendo que se trate de mí. Lo siento.
Verán, amiguitos. Soy fanático de las cuevas. Probablemente desde que viera un diagrama en una vieja enciclopedia de Reader's Digest y la asociara con un laberinto (tema que también se trata en este libro), desarrollé una especie de picazón muy severa por conocer y explorar esos laberintos esculturales trabajados por el agua en el karst. Hasta ese entonces sólo había hecho una expedición bastante dócil a las cuevas de rigor del chilango promedio (sí, Cacahuamilpa), pero con el paso de los años he tenido la oportunidad de abrir un poco más mi experiencia.
Una de ellas fue en 2011, cuando en medio de un viaje por el Mayab que incluyó recorrer dos de mis estados favoritos del país y dos estados nación vecinos; mi hermana y yo tuvimos la buena idea de contratar un tour a la cueva ATM en Belice. Hunt hace exactamente lo mismo en el libro y no pude sino contrastar con alegría mi experiencia a la suya. El capítulo donde se relata la expedición de Hunt a la cueva ATM es el último del libro, donde el tema principal es la relación religiosa del hombre con las cuevas. El autor cuenta la reverencia y la gravedad y lo sagrado de la experiencia de bajar al Xibalbá. Ese día, 19 de Julio de 2011, fue una jornada no voy a decir que mística, pero sí de exagerada y frenética dicha. Nadar al interior de la cueva, seguir el camino del agua entre riachuelos y oquedades y luego salir a contemplar las cámaras con sus estalactitas y ofrendas, trepar por entre rocas y finalmente subir la escalera de metal para ir a conocer a la pobre muchacha que le tocó la de perder me hizo sentir increíblemente feliz, con un arrebato que en aquel año que estaba siendo difícil para mí reafirmó mi pasión por los espacios subterráneos.
Con esto quiero decir que este libro fue uno donde puedo decir que estoy muy feliz de haberlo leído porque me encuentro en sintonía con el autor, que entiendo esa picazón rayana en la experiencia trascendente de conocer aquello que nos cambia la perspectiva.
January 1, 2019
This non-fiction work starts off as a personal, memoir exploration of the author's preoccupation with subterranean worlds and expands into a much broader investigation, which ultimately explores the very roots of human spirituality. A unique and poetic and illuminating read.
February 8, 2019
“Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet” is an extraordinarily well-researched book about the cavernous realm just beneath us. Will Hunt is our Virgil, guiding us into and through the subterranean world, and enthusing this tour with erudition, vitality, and an explorer’s yearning to explore our world and our place in it.
Will Hunt’s writing masterfully evokes W.G. Sebald; he mixes travelogue, biography, autobiography, history, science, documentary, and literary criticism. And in Underground Hunt’s writing evinces an encyclopedic knowledge and excitement of all things subterranean. Underground succeeds in giving us a panorama of the places below us and these spaces relate to humans throughout history.
Anaxagoras said, “The descent to hell is the same from every place.” Underground shows us that all descents into the spaces beneath us, also are descents and explorations into what it means to be human.
Will Hunt’s writing masterfully evokes W.G. Sebald; he mixes travelogue, biography, autobiography, history, science, documentary, and literary criticism. And in Underground Hunt’s writing evinces an encyclopedic knowledge and excitement of all things subterranean. Underground succeeds in giving us a panorama of the places below us and these spaces relate to humans throughout history.
Anaxagoras said, “The descent to hell is the same from every place.” Underground shows us that all descents into the spaces beneath us, also are descents and explorations into what it means to be human.
November 6, 2018
I requested this book thinking it would be about something entirely different and was pleasantly surprised by what i found. This book travels (literally) into many different types of underground and goes into the historical, religious, and artistic aspects of each. Very engaging writing style and well edited, i thought this book was wonderful.
I received a free review copy odd this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I received a free review copy odd this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
December 3, 2018
This book was absolutely fantastic. Hunt is a fantastic writer, who manages to make his trips to these various places both scary and charming, and does an excellent job of conveying the importance and fascination of the history surrounding it all. I learned so many things I didn't know before, and want to spew these facts at everyone I know, which I consider a mark of greatness in nonfiction. Definitely read.
Thanks Edelweiss for an e-arc! It gets 5 glowing stars.
Thanks Edelweiss for an e-arc! It gets 5 glowing stars.
February 2, 2019
This books combines basically all of my favorite things: travel, exploration, photography, graffiti, archaeology, anthropology....with a splash of philosophy. The author is present in the narrative but not irritatingly so. The book feels personal without feeling autobiographical. I want to read a full book on just about every chapter - the mythology and consistent fascination with the underground throughout human history is truly fascinating.
October 24, 2019
This is a deeply personal book, almost an autobiography. I prefer my non-fiction to be objective and detached.
February 6, 2019
A love letter to a lost world.
Will Hunt chronicles his search for meaning in the oft undiscovered world beneath our feet with a work that is part travel journal, part anthropological study. Hunt writes of his numerous explorations underground from the catacombs of Paris and the vast tunnels of NYC, to untouched caves in South America and Australia—and everything in between. His thoughtful commentary remarks on the discoveries of some of history’s greatest minds juxtaposed with that of the common traveler turned dirt evangelist, a commentary proving that an enduring and utterly human fascination with the underground world has always existed and will exist inevitably into the future.
Perhaps enhanced by the otherworldly circumstances in which these events took place, it’s clear Hunt has a gift for understanding the importance of narrative even in nonfiction. He reports real happenings as if a story and does so in a voice that is at times conversational, at times introspective. A writing style that in itself requires digging into. Each chapter is a thoughtful thirty pages in which Hunt alternates his own stories of adventure and discovery with reverent tales of the explorers who came before him.
WHAT WOULD I CHANGE
UNDERGROUND is written with a mesmerizing prose designed to incite wonder, but descriptions seem always only half cast, as though the author is not fully willing to share every secret.
Perhaps we can’t begrudge these withholdings. After all, adventure belongs solely to the adventurer himself. We, the reader and witness, are allowed only the glimpse we deserve from the safety of our armchairs, lit with reading lamps and a comfortable cup of tea at our side. Some things must be left undiscovered and undocumented, left for our own internal meanderings which I believe the author hopes to inspire by his documentation of a subsurface largely unknown.
Two notes on structure stand out as what I could see as potential improvements. Firstly, the sentence structure itself, which acts as a sort of start and stop hap-dash of commas and semicolons thar far exceeds the average. This is due in part to the work’s conversational style, but does require some acclimating. Secondly, the book is punctuated with numerous black and white photos that sometimes lack full description. I would have appreciated the occasional italicized caption with more detail.
THE BOTTOM LINE
This startling and thought-provoking work unearths a connection to the depths at once spiritual and biological, a revelation that astounds even the most casual of readers. A must-read for the spare traveller, the amateur archaeologist, the pioneer, the naturalist, the spiritualist, the dreaming anthropologist—but most importantly, the lingering explorer who lies buried in the hidden cavities of every human soul.
VERDICT: Buy It
Will Hunt chronicles his search for meaning in the oft undiscovered world beneath our feet with a work that is part travel journal, part anthropological study. Hunt writes of his numerous explorations underground from the catacombs of Paris and the vast tunnels of NYC, to untouched caves in South America and Australia—and everything in between. His thoughtful commentary remarks on the discoveries of some of history’s greatest minds juxtaposed with that of the common traveler turned dirt evangelist, a commentary proving that an enduring and utterly human fascination with the underground world has always existed and will exist inevitably into the future.
Perhaps enhanced by the otherworldly circumstances in which these events took place, it’s clear Hunt has a gift for understanding the importance of narrative even in nonfiction. He reports real happenings as if a story and does so in a voice that is at times conversational, at times introspective. A writing style that in itself requires digging into. Each chapter is a thoughtful thirty pages in which Hunt alternates his own stories of adventure and discovery with reverent tales of the explorers who came before him.
WHAT WOULD I CHANGE
UNDERGROUND is written with a mesmerizing prose designed to incite wonder, but descriptions seem always only half cast, as though the author is not fully willing to share every secret.
Perhaps we can’t begrudge these withholdings. After all, adventure belongs solely to the adventurer himself. We, the reader and witness, are allowed only the glimpse we deserve from the safety of our armchairs, lit with reading lamps and a comfortable cup of tea at our side. Some things must be left undiscovered and undocumented, left for our own internal meanderings which I believe the author hopes to inspire by his documentation of a subsurface largely unknown.
Two notes on structure stand out as what I could see as potential improvements. Firstly, the sentence structure itself, which acts as a sort of start and stop hap-dash of commas and semicolons thar far exceeds the average. This is due in part to the work’s conversational style, but does require some acclimating. Secondly, the book is punctuated with numerous black and white photos that sometimes lack full description. I would have appreciated the occasional italicized caption with more detail.
THE BOTTOM LINE
This startling and thought-provoking work unearths a connection to the depths at once spiritual and biological, a revelation that astounds even the most casual of readers. A must-read for the spare traveller, the amateur archaeologist, the pioneer, the naturalist, the spiritualist, the dreaming anthropologist—but most importantly, the lingering explorer who lies buried in the hidden cavities of every human soul.
VERDICT: Buy It
June 30, 2019
A collection of essays about underground spaces: man-made tunnels, underground cities and burrow livings, deep-earth mines, natural caves, sacred caves, etc..., part history part travel writing, and occasional dip into scientific studies. I like the chapters about New York subway tunnels and Paris catacombs.
I find myself frowning at the author's reflection on his own cave dwelling experiment and arguments on altered consciousness and religious experiences--neither scientific nor philosophical. Instead, the author tried to conclude too much from too little evidence.
I find myself frowning at the author's reflection on his own cave dwelling experiment and arguments on altered consciousness and religious experiences--neither scientific nor philosophical. Instead, the author tried to conclude too much from too little evidence.
January 19, 2019
https://booksnooks.wordpress.com/2019...
Beneath my feet lies a 300 million-year-old petrified rainforest– the second largest in the world. Pictures of it can be seen here. It’s incredible to imagine that this snowy countryside was once a tropical rainforest and that its remains are now buried deep below where I stand today. Scientific proof of what once was. Do you ever wonder about what used to be? Do you wonder about what can’t be seen.
Will Hunt’s curiosity about the unknown began the summer he turned 16, when he discovered an abandoned train tunnel that ran under his neighborhood. It was this experience that eventually launched his passion for urban exploring- a hobby that allowed him to travel all over the world as he sought out abandoned subway platforms (ghost stations), dodged police officers in foreign countries, and encountered “Mole People”. While in the Catacombs of Paris, he even came across an underground library, La Librairie, where urban explorers left books for others to borrow. Oh, my soul!
"I saw that we- all of us, the human species- have always felt a quiet pull from the underground, that we are connected to this realm as we are to our own shadow."
I must say my favorite bit may have been the story about the “Mole Man of Hackney” who decided to dig a wine cellar in his basement and never stopped. He kept burrowing until his home started to collapse. In his words, “I just have a big basement.”
Underground by Will Hunt was fascinating and really well done! If you are a fan of traveling from your couch or, like me, are simply saving your cabbage and working all the side hustles so you can travel in real life, this is the book for you! Hearing about his expeditions energized my sense of adventure and learning the science of the “worlds beneath our feet” caused me to look at things from a whole new perspective. Microbiologists keep finding life deeper and deeper inside the earth and are even discovering pockets of water that are more than a billion years old. In addition, it’s estimated that more than half of the world’s caves are undiscovered! We explore outer space, but there is so much to find here- our oceans and underground landscapes are just as much a mystery.
Beneath my feet lies a 300 million-year-old petrified rainforest– the second largest in the world. Pictures of it can be seen here. It’s incredible to imagine that this snowy countryside was once a tropical rainforest and that its remains are now buried deep below where I stand today. Scientific proof of what once was. Do you ever wonder about what used to be? Do you wonder about what can’t be seen.
Will Hunt’s curiosity about the unknown began the summer he turned 16, when he discovered an abandoned train tunnel that ran under his neighborhood. It was this experience that eventually launched his passion for urban exploring- a hobby that allowed him to travel all over the world as he sought out abandoned subway platforms (ghost stations), dodged police officers in foreign countries, and encountered “Mole People”. While in the Catacombs of Paris, he even came across an underground library, La Librairie, where urban explorers left books for others to borrow. Oh, my soul!
"I saw that we- all of us, the human species- have always felt a quiet pull from the underground, that we are connected to this realm as we are to our own shadow."
I must say my favorite bit may have been the story about the “Mole Man of Hackney” who decided to dig a wine cellar in his basement and never stopped. He kept burrowing until his home started to collapse. In his words, “I just have a big basement.”
Underground by Will Hunt was fascinating and really well done! If you are a fan of traveling from your couch or, like me, are simply saving your cabbage and working all the side hustles so you can travel in real life, this is the book for you! Hearing about his expeditions energized my sense of adventure and learning the science of the “worlds beneath our feet” caused me to look at things from a whole new perspective. Microbiologists keep finding life deeper and deeper inside the earth and are even discovering pockets of water that are more than a billion years old. In addition, it’s estimated that more than half of the world’s caves are undiscovered! We explore outer space, but there is so much to find here- our oceans and underground landscapes are just as much a mystery.
January 31, 2019
A remarkable book: beautifully written, deeply researched, full of fresh and bold ideas. Bought a copy for everyone in my family!
January 19, 2019
This is the kind of quirky book that I love--lots of history, geography, geology, literature, psychology, religion, all tied to a single idea: underground spaces, natural and man-made, and how they've been used over the millennia. I'd never consider going caving myself--I'm way too claustrophobic--but I enjoy reading about the pleasures and all that is to be found. Hunt recounts his research into these spaces from ancient caves to disused subway tunnels and offers an amazing array of facts (or perhaps trivia for fans of that) to be enjoyed. He writes about "pioneers" in the field and shares his encounters with modern underground explorers. The book is fairly brief and moves quite briskly from one adventure to the next, with bits of philosophizing slowing it slightly. Lots of literary references, as any number of books from classics to more recent titles have played with this idea, and he also brings in real people, like Picasso, who were strongly influenced by their own glimpses into these underground worlds. It's thought-provoking, informative, rich in mythology, religion, art, history. The writing is detailed and evocative, the setting often exotic. An earnest yet entertaining read. Hunt's personal journeys underline the universal nature of man's curiosity about hidden places.
January 31, 2019
Remarkable book: beautifully written, deeply researched, full of fresh and bold ideas. Bought a copy for everyone in my family!
March 2, 2019
Who woulda thunk that you'd get a lesson on Native American origin mythology and the latest theory of evolution from an astrophysicist who keeps up with microbiology while being taken on a virtual tour of an abandoned gold mine?
Who woulda expected to learn about placating the old Mondongs by walking the red marlu's songline to the Wilgie Mia? And also learn the importance of ochre?
Who woulda figured that Will Hunt would get lost in the Parisian catacombs with two lovely women and write about it in such as way to make you feel panicky? He also explains exactly why and how the fear of being lost in the dark is so overwhelming.
I really enjoyed this book. Hunt not only explores the actual underground spaces from New York to Australia and Paris to Mexico, but extends his exploration to how underground space has influenced the human psyche and behavior from the beginning. He talks about the psychology of being underground, the role underground spaces play in various religious beliefs around the world and even how life may have evolved deep underground rather than in a the hot soup at the surface.
Do yourself a favor. Pick this book up. It's a highly entertaining and quick read.
Who woulda expected to learn about placating the old Mondongs by walking the red marlu's songline to the Wilgie Mia? And also learn the importance of ochre?
Who woulda figured that Will Hunt would get lost in the Parisian catacombs with two lovely women and write about it in such as way to make you feel panicky? He also explains exactly why and how the fear of being lost in the dark is so overwhelming.
I really enjoyed this book. Hunt not only explores the actual underground spaces from New York to Australia and Paris to Mexico, but extends his exploration to how underground space has influenced the human psyche and behavior from the beginning. He talks about the psychology of being underground, the role underground spaces play in various religious beliefs around the world and even how life may have evolved deep underground rather than in a the hot soup at the surface.
Do yourself a favor. Pick this book up. It's a highly entertaining and quick read.
October 31, 2024
Part ode to underground spaces, part dive into the history of humanity with caves and sewers, the obsession the author has with this topic is fascinating (and sometimes frustrating) to follow. I was torn between giving this book 3 or 4 stars - the poetic side of this book is excellent, though the research that went into it felt a little lacking. The author (a NYC sewer explorer/catacomb fanatic) did travel to additional locations for the purpose of the book but neglected to cite much outside work and report the history and science of these places as facts. As a scientist, I hoped to see outside references to other works that supported these claims. The parts of the book, though, that document the author's climb through these spaces are quite exciting and convey exactly why the author feel so fascinated by the underground.
March 29, 2019
What an interesting, well-written book that brings the reader into subterranean worlds around the globe. This book is part memoir, part history, part philosophy, & mythology that expands our terrestrial lives into the world below. Wonderful!
June 20, 2019
I just want Will Hunt to invite me to explore some of his favorite underground haunts. This book was riveting not only because of the places and characters we meet, but also the writing style.
March 26, 2019
I loved this book, I can't recommend it enough. First of all, it is beautifully written - Will Hunt is an Author, in the truest sense of the word. Second, it is much more than just an exploration of underground spaces around the world - an abandoned train tunnel in my own city of Providence, the catacombs in Paris, prehistoric caves in Europe, sewers and old subway stations in NYC, and whole underground cities in Turkey. It is an examination of what it means to be human. Journeying into the unknown, looking for reasons why so many cultures hold subterranean spaces sacred, sharing the origin stories of humanity from around the world - this book will give you a whole new perspective on the world beneath our feet, as well as the world around you.
July 3, 2019
I loved this – the writing is beautiful and I dog-eared so many pages to refer back to. As a claustrophobe I will never, ever understand the desire to go deep underground – I honestly can't think of anything worse. But Will Hunt does a great job of exploring the push-pull of desire and fear that draws people underground, both now and throughout history.
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