Status Updates From London Under

Notes:
(1) The final quarter covers a bunch of short topics, and feels like spare parts crammed in at the end.
– It runs the gamut from public opinion on The Tube, to haunted stations, buried treasure, secret places, wartime bunkers, and the underground in literature.
– Which only crystallizes my view that this is less a history than a collection of lyrically-told factoids.

Notes:
(1) Chapter 7 is about flowing elements of energy: water, gas, electricity, telecommunications, etc.
- Treated as sacred sources of power—anima of the city—albeit with all the historical weight of a travel pamphlet for some subterranean tour.
(2) Chapters 8-9 are about tunnels as a means of transport. Pedestrian walkways, The Tube, etc.
- Finally touching the modern.

Notes:
(1) Chapters 4-6 paint the underground as less mythic and more perilous/disgusting.
- Specifically, it's about rivers, sewage, and toxic gas, described poetically of course.
(2) What's sorely lacking here are characters—or at least ones that hang around for more than an anecdote.
- So far, the closest thing to a character is the Fleet River (aka "the river of shit").

Notes:
(1) The opening chapters focus on the underground as a liminal world dividing the unknown/mythical deeper-down and the familiar world above.
- There's no central story, it all feels like one lyrical trivia tidbit after another.
(2) The overall aesthetic is that of a PowerPoint presentation from a 100-level college course.
- Each short paragraph is like its own slide.

Notes:
(1) It's been, what? a month since my last audiobook?
- Usually, I jump right into the next one, but my last audiobook was a real drag and listening felt like a chore. I guess I needed a break.
(2) I chose this one because it's short, currently available, and meets my criteria of being a reread—I didn't exactly enjoy it the first time.
- It also checks off my "Read at least one non-fiction book" goal for 2025.