Underland and Underground

 

      

                                                                  

Underground, A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet

Will Hunt

Underland, A Deep Time Journey

Robert MacFarlane

These two non-fiction books, published only a year apart, 2018 and 2019, both feature what most people try to avoid: those dark spaces underneath the ground - tunnels, sewers and catacombs, caves and mines, underground rivers, crevasses and nuclear bunkers. 

Each of the authors has a special interest in these kinds of places and luckily for us is willing to share descriptions, adventures and enthusiasms with those who prefer to stay safely above ground.

Robert MacFarlane has a long history of fascination with features of our Earth and has previously published books about the deep places of our planet where men have felt connected not only to the earth but also the historic and prehistoric people who preceded us because it is impossible to go beneath the surface of the earth without encountering some evidence of those who have gone before. 

In Underland, he starts close to the surface with an examination of the roots of trees and the way the "wood wide web" connects trees with each other and the supporting network of fungi. 

In succeeding chapters he explores catacombs, glaciers and karst around the world, often putting himself at risk in doing so. It makes an exhilarating read, especially given his skilful use of the English language and his tendency towards philosophical reflection. 

Will Hunt, author of Underground, grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. At the age of 16, he discovered, by chance, the entrance to an abandoned train tunnel. Over the next few years, he spent many hours exploring the tunnel and after looking at an old map realized that it passed almost directly underneath his own house. His insatiable curiosity about underground spaces was born.

Years later, having procured funding from a research foundation and a book publisher to investigate underground spaces, he was off. For more than 10 years he ventured into those kinds of places noted above that most of us have a fascination for but would prefer to avoid. His adventures took him into the New York Subway, even the abandoned parts, the Paris Catacombs (one wonders if he and MacFarlane may have met in passing), into the sacred caves and founding myths of the Lakota, into ancient underground cities of the Maya and even, following Aboriginal songlines, into a 35,000-year-old ochre mine in the Australian outback. 

"It is in our connection to the underground", Will Hunt says, "that the old ways survive. In the subterranean dark, lost memories rumble awake. We become raw and vulnerable, sensitive to the world's soft enchantment, attuned to the quiet parts of our mind."

"Today, as I move through the world, I feel the presence of the spaces beneath me, and am reminded how much of our existence remains in mystery, how much of reality continues to elude us, how much deeper our world runs beyond what we know. And from day to day, nothing leaves me so enlivened and hopeful and full of grace."

I highly recommend both Underland and Underground. Both of these gifted authors travel to places I've not even mentioned and both captivate us with their descriptive prose, their courage, their ability to share historical perspective and their willingness to share their emotional journeys. 

Both books highly recommended!