Springcleaning Book 20 – “Underworld” by Robert Macfarlane

Underland by Robert Macfarlane is a book I acquired as part of an Advent calendar I had during December 2023 (see my blog here about what I thought when I got it). The length of time this book, which I was looking forward to reading, has been on my to-be-read pile gives you an indication of the scale of the problem which my Springcleaning Challenge has been designed to alleviate, at least partially. Having now read this book I realise that I should have picked it up sooner.

The author writes travel books which explore our relationship with the environment and what various locations mean to people who live near them, to humanity as a whole and to our shared culture. This means that the book isn’t a straightforward travelogue but an exploration in the physical world and also in thought. I found much of it eye-opening and it certainly gave me a lot to think about.

All the locations in this book are underground, mostly in Europe. Some of them are caves where people make their way through tight spaces to find other caves and also, in one case, a hidden river. The author looks at how we access these spaces and also at how our ancestors used them and what evidence they have left of their presence. He travels with cavers and cave divers and often has to use his mountaineering skills within mountains. In one chilling chapter he explores the sinkholes which lead to underground spaces and which were used in times of war of kill enemies and dispose of their bodies. In one chapter the author is able to descend right into the middle of a glacier and in another he access caves through an entry in a lake. He also looks at how trees have created their own underground communication system.

The author also looks at the spaces which people have created underground. In Paris he explores the catacombs but also abandoned tunnels and rooms which are now being used by a new generation for different purposes. He looks at burial chambers which have been used for hundreds of years, and spaces which are now being used to store nuclear waste.

The writing in this book is lyrical and beautiful. The author uses poetry and quotations to show the reader how our sense of what is underground is part of our culture and folklore. He introduces us to people who live in or travel through these spaces and we get glimpses into the lives of those who have been there in the past. This is powerful writing and quite unlike anything else I have read.

I’m not going to keep this book, although I shall look for others by this author, so I shall pass it onto Oxfam for them to sell to someone else who I hope will enjoy it as much as I did.