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martinatan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
I finally finished this after having to return it to the library a few years ago, then finding a copy to keep in a little free library. :) I was so excited to pick it back up, even though I had trouble then and now focusing on the text every so often. I’m not great with nonfiction in that way. But I thoroughly enjoyed and admired the range of topics that this author explored, and the prose and intertextuality he brings to each vignette. I loved how the chapters were organized, especially how the final section “Haunting” covered all the dark and unsettling aspects of the underland and the human tendency to bury material evidence of violence and cruelty in the earth. I learned a lot about the underland and the Anthropocene from the author’s thoughtful and well researched reporting. This was a really informative and beautiful complement to many of the speculative fiction and science and nature narratives I typically am drawn to.
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, Antisemitism, Confinement, Genocide, and Colonisation
anna_m_k's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Fascinating and haunting, Underland: A Deep Time Journey explores the underlands both man-made and natural and the many ways they have been used from ancient times to now, and even beyond. This book, as its subtitle implies, is as much about time as it is about the places beneath. Focusing primarily on the undergrounds of various locales in Europe, Robert Macfarlane deftly leads the reader through these places and their layers of time. Throughout Underland, Macfarlane balances the wonder with the existential dread as he discusses caves, underground rivers, and the underneaths of glaciers. He combines science, archaeology, history, ecology and many more disciplines in this book without ever letting the reader get lost.
Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: War, Confinement, and Suicide
Minor: Genocide and Torture
sombies's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
gotta stay outta those god damn caves
Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, War, Violence, and Murder
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