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daja57's review against another edition
4.0
A travel book in which the author explores a variety of subterranean landscapes including cave systems and glacier moulins as well as those that are manmade, such as the catacombs below Paris and mine-workings and underground storage facilies.
Much of the joy of this book lies in his descriptions. Here is one example, from the first page:
“Late-summer heatwave, heavy air. Bees browsing drowsy over meadow grass. Gold of standing corn, green of fresh hay-rows, black of rooks on stubble fields. ... A swan flies high and south on creaking wings.”
There is much of this throughout the book, combining detailed observation with precise vocabulary and perfect metaphor.
There’s a lot of science (from an experiment to detect dark matter, buried in an English mine, to geology to climate change), much of it viewed through a quasi-mystical lens. Most of the journeys that Macfarlane makes are, for him, deeply spiritual experiences, and he connects them with legends about the underworld, and more recent stories - perhaps legends in the making - such as the Victorian obsession with a hollow earth.
I found many of Macfarlane’s journeys horrific. He squeezes into impossibly narrow tunnels, descends gulping sinkholes, wades starless rivers and wanders underground labyrinths, sometimes describing his terror, and I really didn’t want to share his experiences. Even when he is above ground, climbing glaciers and mountain sides, often alone, sometimes in heavy fog, far from any prospect of help, I was terrified on his behalf.
My favourite part was his description of the underground urban explorers in the Paris catacombs: perhaps because I am fundamentally a townie I could understand the romance and excitement of this below-street counterculture (though I still wouldn’t go down there: too scary!).
He makes the point repeatedly that geology has a much longer time span than humans and that all our little lives and dreams will disappear into nothingness. But then he also talks about the ‘anthropocene’, the new geological era characterised by human activities, and implicitly suggests that we shouldn’t produce so much plastic waste, or consume so much oil, or mine so much, or bury long-half-life nuclear waste. “Viewed from the perspective of a desert or an ocean, human morality looks absurd - crushed to irrelevance.” (Ch 1)
There is a great deal to enjoy in this book ... but there is a great deal. I thought it went on too long. It belaboured the environmental message and over-romanticised the ‘little people’ who lived simple lives in impossibly beautiful (and often dangerous) landscapes - and still burned oil and produced wastes. And, at the end, there were just too many tunnels to squeeze through, too many mountains the climb, and the last ones just sounded the same as the earlier ones.
But the descriptions were beautiful.
Much of the joy of this book lies in his descriptions. Here is one example, from the first page:
“Late-summer heatwave, heavy air. Bees browsing drowsy over meadow grass. Gold of standing corn, green of fresh hay-rows, black of rooks on stubble fields. ... A swan flies high and south on creaking wings.”
There is much of this throughout the book, combining detailed observation with precise vocabulary and perfect metaphor.
There’s a lot of science (from an experiment to detect dark matter, buried in an English mine, to geology to climate change), much of it viewed through a quasi-mystical lens. Most of the journeys that Macfarlane makes are, for him, deeply spiritual experiences, and he connects them with legends about the underworld, and more recent stories - perhaps legends in the making - such as the Victorian obsession with a hollow earth.
I found many of Macfarlane’s journeys horrific. He squeezes into impossibly narrow tunnels, descends gulping sinkholes, wades starless rivers and wanders underground labyrinths, sometimes describing his terror, and I really didn’t want to share his experiences. Even when he is above ground, climbing glaciers and mountain sides, often alone, sometimes in heavy fog, far from any prospect of help, I was terrified on his behalf.
My favourite part was his description of the underground urban explorers in the Paris catacombs: perhaps because I am fundamentally a townie I could understand the romance and excitement of this below-street counterculture (though I still wouldn’t go down there: too scary!).
He makes the point repeatedly that geology has a much longer time span than humans and that all our little lives and dreams will disappear into nothingness. But then he also talks about the ‘anthropocene’, the new geological era characterised by human activities, and implicitly suggests that we shouldn’t produce so much plastic waste, or consume so much oil, or mine so much, or bury long-half-life nuclear waste. “Viewed from the perspective of a desert or an ocean, human morality looks absurd - crushed to irrelevance.” (Ch 1)
There is a great deal to enjoy in this book ... but there is a great deal. I thought it went on too long. It belaboured the environmental message and over-romanticised the ‘little people’ who lived simple lives in impossibly beautiful (and often dangerous) landscapes - and still burned oil and produced wastes. And, at the end, there were just too many tunnels to squeeze through, too many mountains the climb, and the last ones just sounded the same as the earlier ones.
But the descriptions were beautiful.
titrateinconvenience's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
andrewjmajor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
4.5
abigailhope13's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
lizzieormian's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
"but mostly, and in several ways, I'm amazed I'm able to hold the hand of the person I love."
okay change my life why don't you
okay change my life why don't you
roxymaybe's review against another edition
5.0
This is how every nature/travel writer thinks they sound. Beautiful, meaningful, made me think of the world in entirely new ways. Absolutely terrifying! I'm never going in a cave. Loved it.
mrgxfincher's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
savaging's review against another edition
4.0
Macfarlane is so rooted in the larger-than-human world that his simplest descriptions feel like a wild-eyed prophecy. Even in his most banal, modern settings I hear the old gods stomping about.
The only bits of the book that wearied me were where he picks up the pace too much into you-won't-believe-it adventure writing. He does dangerous, even stupid things in order to be the one to write about it. This makes the tone tediously macho in parts, no matter how gentle he keeps his words.
But all the same, I really appreciated this slow read into the underland.
The only bits of the book that wearied me were where he picks up the pace too much into you-won't-believe-it adventure writing. He does dangerous, even stupid things in order to be the one to write about it. This makes the tone tediously macho in parts, no matter how gentle he keeps his words.
But all the same, I really appreciated this slow read into the underland.
switht's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0