Underland is an epic exploration of the Earth's underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory and the land itself. At once ancient and urgent, this is a book that will change the way you see the world.
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The way into the Underland is through the riven trunk of an old ash tree. FIRST CHAMBER
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(@PenguinUKBooks, 27 August 2020, 280 pages, paperback, #ARC from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed)
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I've wanted to read this book for ages since I read so many positive online reviews. I couldn't wait to read it. I don't think I've ever read nonfiction about the natural world before so this was a first for me. Underland is unlike anything I've read before. I understand why some reviews have described this as the author's magnum opus. It's a once-in-a-lifetime-not-to-be-repeated book. So what's it about? The book discusses what lies beneath the surface of the physical world we walk on. This includes caves, bunkers buried deep in the earth and the like. Underland is beautifully written. This is an incredible book. The author travels to these places and reflects not only on his experiences and encounters but other tales of humankind's encounters with the world beneath. One tale will haunt me for a long time, that of a young man who was caving, and climbing down a shaft into the earth to find bounders beneath his feet. He started to climb back out but the boulders moved and he became wedged in such a way he couldn't reach the ladder to climb out and nobody could just climb down and get him. A massive rescue party was launched. He started to suffocate. People lost their life trying to reach him. He was declared dead several days later and the hole filled in, entombing his body. His father didn't want anyone else to die to retrieve his son's corpse. The man was experienced. This is a beautiful, astonishing piece of writing. It made me cry a lot and feel so small, fragile and human.
