Advent Book 4 – Going underground

Today’s book in my Advent calendar is Underland by Robert Macfarlane. The author is an explorer of landscapes and I have read his book about the few remaining wildernesses of Britain, The Wild Places (see my review here) which I enjoyed.

This book is about underground places and I can see from the contents page that he explores places around Europe including below Paris, in the Scottish highlands and under a glacier in Greenland – they will all be places where few people visit, I think. It’s a relatively new book (first published in 2019) and one that I would have picked up second hand had I seen it.

The format of the previous book that I have read involves the author travelling to these places, describing them, telling us a little of their history and then giving us his impressions. It looks like that is the format here and it works for me. I enjoy travel books which tell me a little bit more about the world in which I live, especially if they have an historical connection.

The book I have been sent has a lovely cover and French flaps to make it a bit posher. It has not been well read so it is like new.

The previous three books in my calendar have all been worth reading but I am actively looking forward to this one. I am wondering, though, when I might get some fiction !!