Name: Eva Ströberg's review of Underland by Robert Macfarlane
Item: Underland
Rating: 4
Author: Eva Ströberg

Robert Macfarlane

From the best-selling, award-winning author of Landmarks and The Old Ways, a haunting voyage into the planet's past and future.

A Deep Time Journey

Underland

Hailed as "the great nature writer of this generation" (Wall Street Journal), Robert Macfarlane is the celebrated author of books about the intersections of the human and the natural realms. In Underland, he delivers his masterpiece: an epic exploration of the Earth's underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself. In this highly anticipated sequel to his international bestseller The Old Ways, Macfarlane takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind. Traveling through "deep time"--the dizzying expanses of geologic time that stretch away from the present--he moves from the birth of the universe to a post-human future, from the prehistoric art of Norwegian sea caves to the blue depths of the Greenland ice cap, from Bronze Age funeral chambers to the catacomb labyrinth below Paris, and from the underground fungal networks through which trees communicate to a deep-sunk "hiding place" where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come. "Woven through Macfarlane's own travels are the unforgettable stories of descents into the underland made across history by explorers, artists, cavers, divers, mourners, dreamers, and murderers, all of whom have been drawn for different reasons to seek what Cormac McCarthy calls "the awful darkness within the world." Global in its geography and written with great lyricism and power, Underland speaks powerfully to our present moment. Taking a deep-time view of our planet, Macfarlane here asks a vital and unsettling question: "Are we being good ancestors to the future Earth?" Underland marks a new turn in Macfarlane's long-term mapping of the relations of landscape and the human heart. From its remarkable opening pages to its deeply moving conclusion, it is a journey into wonder, loss, fear, and hope. At once ancient and urgent, this is a book that will change the way you see the world.

Bastien Vaucher

The weight on 2,000-year-old ice can reach half-a-ton per square linch. The air in this ice has been so compressed that cores brought up by deep drilling will fracture and snap as the air expands. This is why glaciers sound like shooting ranges. This is why if you were to drop a piece of very old blue ice in a glass of water or whisky, it might shatter the glass.

The residue of over 600 years of quarrying is that beneath the south of the upper city exists its negative image: a network of more than 200 miles of galleries, rooms and chambers, organized into three main regions that together spread beneath nine arrondissements. This network is the vides de carrières - the 'quarry voids', the catacombs.

Even more remarkably, the network also allows plants to send immune-signalling compounds to one another. A plant under attack from aphids can indicate to a nearby plant via the network that i should up-regulate its defensive response before the aphids reach it.

It has been known for some time that plants communicate above ground in comparable ways, by means of diffusible hormones. But such airborne warnings are imprecise in their destinations. When the compounds travel by fungal networks, both the source and recipient can be specified. Our growing comprehension of the forest network asks profound questions: about where species begin and end, about whether a forest might best be imagined as a super-organism, and about what 'trading', 'sharing' or even 'friendship' might mean between plants and, indeed, between humans.

Where the pollards spread out to form the canopies, I realize I can trace patterns of space running along the edges of each tree's canopy: the beautiful phenomenon known as 'crown shyness’, whereby individual forest trees respect each other's space, leaving slender running gaps between the end of one tree's outermost leaves and the start of another's.

'Does it change the way the world feels?' I ask him. 'Knowing that too trillion neutrinos pass through your body every second, that countless such particles perforate our brains and hearts? Does it change the way you feel about matter - about what matters? Are you surprised we don't fall through each surface of our world at every step, push through it with every touch?'

'At the weekends,' Christopher says, 'when I'm out for a walk with my wife, along the cliff tops near here, on a sunny day, I know our bodies are wide-meshed nets, and that the cliffs we're walking on are nets too, and sometimes it seems, yes, as miraculous as if in our everyday world we suddenly found ourselves walking on water, or air. And I wonder what it must be like, sometimes, not to know that.’

He pauses, and it is clear that he is thinking now beyond the confines of the salt cavern, beyond even the known limits of the universe.

'But mostly, and in several ways, I'm amazed I'm able to hold the hand of the person I love.’

Eva Ströberg

Wow. I never thought I would enjoy reading non-fiction so much, but this book is really inspiring. 

The book tells the many travel tales the author has partaken around in the world in the pursue of "underland", be it caves, underground rivers and many other things. It's fascinating how little we know about the ground beneath our feet, and he helped me to understand that it's an adventure many of us yet to discover. One star down from five is because sometimes it's too long and unwinding with the description, but it's interesting enough to continue the book til the end!

The highly anticipated new book from the internationally bestselling, prize-winning author of Landmarks, The Lost Words and The Old Ways 'You'd be crazy not to read this book' The Sunday Times 'Underland is a magnificent feat of writing, travelling and thinking that feels genuinely frontier pushing, unsettling and exploratory' Evening Standard 'Marvellous... Neverending curiosity, generosity of spirit, erudition, bravery and clarity... This is a book well worth reading' The Times 'Extraordinary... at once learned and readable, thrilling and beautifully written' Observer 'Attentive, thoughtful, finely honed... I turned the last page with the unusual conviction of having been in the company of a fine writer who is - who must surely be - a good man' Telegraph 'Poetry, science, a healthy sense of the uncanny and a touch of the shamanic are the hallmarks of his writing... This is a journey that tells the story not just of nature but of human nature. And there is noone I would more gladly follow on it' i 'Startling and memorable, charting invisible and vanishing worlds. Macfarlane has made himself Orpheus, the poet who ventures down to the darkest depths and returns - frighteningly alone-to sing of what he has seen' New Statesman Discover the hidden worlds beneath our feet... In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland's glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet's past and future. Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane's long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart. 'Macfarlane has invented a new kind of book, really a new genre entirely' The Irish Times 'He is the great nature writer, and nature poet, of this generation' Wall Street Journal 'Macfarlane has shown how utterly beautiful a brilliantly written travel book can still be' Observer onThe Old Ways 'Irradiated by a profound sense of wonder... Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly' Independent on Landmarks 'It sets the imagination tingling...like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems' The Sunday Times onThe Old Ways

Pavonini

Beautiful book. You have to slow down to appreciate it, but it’s worth it.

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2019 WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2020 'You'd be crazy not to read this book' The Sunday Times A Guardian Best Book of the 21st Century The highly anticipated new book from the internationally bestselling, prize-winning author of Landmarks, The Lost Words and The Old Ways Discover the hidden worlds beneath our feet... In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland's glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet's past and future. Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane's long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart. SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2020 'Underland is a magnificent feat of writing, travelling and thinking that feels genuinely frontier pushing, unsettling and exploratory' Evening Standard 'Marvellous... Neverending curiosity, generosity of spirit, erudition, bravery and clarity... This is a book well worth reading' The Times 'Extraordinary... at once learned and readable, thrilling and beautifully written' Observer

absolutely phenomenal!

to be honest, i did not anticipate the topic to interest me a lot but prompted by storygraph's genre challenge and a video essay by jacob geller (where i originally encountered this book last year), i picked it up - and what a delight it was! i was deeply engrossed the entire time and could barely put it away at the end of my lunch breaks and as my bed time came. macfarlane is such a talented storyteller, he truly knows how to represent his travels in an engaging and impactful way. a truly, truly fascinating book.

(side note: a fun fact is that this book cited 'vertical' by stephen graham. this book was our key text for my final year of masters. funny how this is the year from my entire course of education that always comes to haunt me.

another fun fact, but i read poe's 'into the maelstrom' a couple of weeks ago as part of the british library tales of the weird series, the 'heavy weather' book. of course, the week after, the uk was battered by three consecutive storms. funny how this came to haunt me too.

either way, makes it feel like i was truly meant to read this book).

”I underlandet har vi i la°nga tider placerat det vi fruktar och vill bli av med, och det vi a ̈lskar och vill bevara.” I Underland gör Robert Macfarlane en upptäcksresa till jordens inre, och vad han söker är människans djupast begravda hemligheter, drömmar och farhågor. Han vandrar genom Paris katakomber, letar efter förhistorisk konst i Lofotens undervattensgrottor och tittar ner i slovenska slukhål; han besöker forskningsstationer, glaciärer och anläggningar med förvar av radioaktivt avfall. Under vandringarna låter Macfarlane vår korta tidshorisont möta jordens långsamma skiftningar, och frågan han ställer är: Vad lämnar vi efter oss? Underland är en exceptionell natur- och reseskildring men också storartad kulturhistoria, där underjordens lockelse och betydelse blir genomlyst av en naturskildrare som räknas som en av vår tids främsta.

En upptäcktsresa i underjorden

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

Al principio me costó un montón, pero después me enganche. Me resulto súper estimularte a la imaginación, muy visual.

Fraser Simons

The closest thing I’ve come to this is Nan Shepherd, who pioneered travel fiction/ mountain fiction. Both have autofiction qualities and are non fiction. But they also describe the world in ways that, while not necessarily fictional, also feel apart from what I’d normally summon in my head if someone said it was nonfiction or autofiction or travel(ogue). 

More than just being a really engaging writer, the author here also has an uncanny knack when choosing what to talk about. It’s rare that absolutely everything on the page is interesting. Especially when it’s the fictional equivalent of, say, watching Planet Earth, or something. 

Perhaps if I had read more travel and it’s peripheral lit components I’d be able to talk about this much better. All I can say is that it is by far the most gripping movement of a character has been. It’s educational on specific subjects, including climate change and waste and geological areas. There’s the odd picture in the book that helps with visualization. 

It’s just riveting how every facet of the world, and how movement especially through the space is captured. I’ll certainly read more from this author. I alternated between book and audio and both were great. No pictures, of course, but the narration was just as good. Highly recommend. Wish I had more experience with this kind of stuff to describe it better.

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2019 WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2020 'You'd be crazy not to read this book' The Sunday Times A Guardian Best Book of the 21st Century From the internationally bestselling, prize-winning author of Landmarks, The Lost Words and The Old Ways In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland's glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet's past and future. Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane's long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart. SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2020 'Macfarlane has invented a new kind of book, really a new genre entirely' The Irish Times 'He is the great nature writer, and nature poet, of this generation' Wall Street Journal 'Macfarlane has shown how utterly beautiful a brilliantly written travel book can still be' Observer on The Old Ways 'Irradiated by a profound sense of wonder... Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly' Independent on Landmarks 'It sets the imagination tingling...like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems' The Sunday Times on The Old Ways

Jade Flynn

This was probably one of the most talked about and advertised new releases of the year and it's one of those rare books that actually lives up to the hype and isn't massively oversold. Macfarlane pairs both poetry and nature writing exquisitely and seamlessly. I do think the overall reading experience would've benefited greatly from including coloured photographs because the four we have are black and white and grainy and I didn't feel it added anything at all. It's the perfect autumnal read and Mcfarlane's love for what he does really permeates through the pages.

Jeremy Anderberg

I was blown away by Macfarlane's lyrical prose. I had to take it a chapter a day. It's natural history, human history, climate history . . . and personal journey/exploration. So good. You'll never think the same way about the ground beneath your feet. 

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I think it would have done better with 75-100 fewer pages. (Sorry, Robert!)

Laurence Fecteau 

Beautifully written. It made me miss the cold and seeing as far as the eye can see as much as it made me want to explore caves and go diving again. Nature. The underworld. What it means to us. The author is so inspiring and did such unbelievable things on his travels. Impressive life!

Bryan Alexander

This one surprised me. A student recommended it (thanks, William!) and I'd never heard of it.

Underland is a strange book. Its focus is on humans imagine and experience the subsurface world, and its gets there through various paths. Our narrator visits mines, underground depositories, underground rivers, and cave art sites. He also hangs out with a fisher who obsess over the sea floor, artists who spelunk, and scientists working on subsurface roots and fungus. He broods about large scale human enterprises and how they connect with the subterranean: religion, history, politics, climate change. He also dreads mortality, both for himself and his son.

Which sounds very intellectual and analytical, which Underland can be. It's also beautifully written and meditative with savory word choice. We tend to imagine stone as inert matter, obdurate in its fixity.. But here in the rift it feels instead like a liquid briefly paused in its flow. Seen in deep time, stone folds as strata, gouts as lava, floats as plates, shifts as shingle. (17)The book's last line is very moving, and its final word is a fine pun: mine, as in both something I own as well as the underground structure.

At the same time Underland has an exciting outdoor adventure element, as visiting some of these locales involves tough hiking, climbing, caving, swimming, and simply surviving. This is viscerally effecting, or it was for me, hunkered down in pandemic. At times the book felt like Jack London channeling Thoreau and Jung, alongside Rachel Carson.

Structurally it's a collection of stories, essays about individual sites, with Macfarlane riffing in multiple directions based on each, ranging from Walter Benjamin to prehistoric humanity to contemporary literature. Tropes and themes grow up and weave across very richly.

Strongly recommended.

Katarzyna Karpinska

I'm slowly emerging from the cozy and quiet holiday hole I've lived in for the past two weeks. It was good to spend time with myself and listen to my thoughts. It was even better to be in the company of these 10 ppl who I feel closest to and therefore I'm still allowed to see.

I've mentioned last time that I was busy finishing some of the books on my ever-growing to-read pile. "Underland" by @robgmacfarlane was one of those and tbh it blew me away. I'm normally not enjoying non-fiction literature. One of the reasons why is that usually it is just poorly written, it lacks both in the language layer, the storytelling and the character construction. Well... "Underland" made me reevaluate my opinion. It made me read slowly, savor the richness of language, the description of the wonders of nature, and the oh so deeply humanistic view on our history and our future.

The book is a composition of beautifully constructed essays about all-things under ground: caves, mines, graves, ghosts... As the author says:

"The same three tasks recur across cultures and epochs: to shelter what is precious, to yield what is valuable, and to dispose of what is harmful. (...) Into the Underland we have long placed that which we fear and wish to lose, and that which we love and wish to save".

The Underland preserves what it's laid in it for ages. What we place in it now will be discovered by our children's children’s children and that must make us start to think: are we good ancestors to them?

Read the book, think, reply, comment!

[I'm also reviewing books on my Instagram account: @slowgram_cph]

Rebecka Wallberg

erin alise 

Emma Younger

National Bestseller • New York Times “100 Notable Books of the Year” • NPR “Favorite Books of 2019” • Guardian “100 Best Books of the 21st Century” • Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award From the best-selling, award-winning author of Landmarks and The Old Ways, a haunting voyage into the planet’s past and future. Hailed as "the great nature writer of this generation" (Wall Street Journal), Robert Macfarlane is the celebrated author of books about the intersections of the human and the natural realms. In Underland, he delivers his masterpiece: an epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself. In this highly anticipated sequel to his international bestseller The Old Ways, Macfarlane takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind. Traveling through “deep time”—the dizzying expanses of geologic time that stretch away from the present—he moves from the birth of the universe to a post-human future, from the prehistoric art of Norwegian sea caves to the blue depths of the Greenland ice cap, from Bronze Age funeral chambers to the catacomb labyrinth below Paris, and from the underground fungal networks through which trees communicate to a deep-sunk “hiding place” where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come. Woven through Macfarlane’s own travels are the unforgettable stories of descents into the underland made across history by explorers, artists, cavers, divers, mourners, dreamers, and murderers, all of whom have been drawn for different reasons to seek what Cormac McCarthy calls “the awful darkness within the world.” Global in its geography and written with great lyricism and power, Underland speaks powerfully to our present moment. Taking a deep-time view of our planet, Macfarlane here asks a vital and unsettling question: “Are we being good ancestors to the future Earth?” Underland marks a new turn in Macfarlane’s long-term mapping of the relations of landscape and the human heart. From its remarkable opening pages to its deeply moving conclusion, it is a journey into wonder, loss, fear, and hope. At once ancient and urgent, this is a book that will change the way you see the world.

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Underland by Robert Macfarlane

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