A fascinating delve beneath the earth's crust, as Macfarlane takes you on a journey to one of the less documented parts of the world. This is a deeply (no pun intended) (oh maybe a little one then) researched and detailed exploration of the world beneath our feet - from the macabre catacombs under the streets of Paris, to adventures in speleology and pot-holing (including some tragic cautionary tales), and with two very telling looks at our future - the seed bank deep beneath the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard to ensure mankind's future, to the Onkalo nuclear waste dump being constructed beneath Finland and how to warn future generations that it's not some Tutankhamun-esque chamber filled with historical riches to behold, but is a highly toxic death cavern.
This is an incredible thought-provoking book, that really highlights how we take for granted the very ground we walk on, and largely ignore the hidden treasures that lurk beneath our daily existence. Hugely recommended.

This is an excellent book -- gripping and intelligent -- and will likely be honored as one of the best nonfiction works of the year.

This was a big of rough read for me as the author really digs deep goes into a bit of EVERYTHING. And I mean EVERYTHING. I was confused by several bits and the transitions from one thing to about were sketchy. I am not the right audience for this.

Macfarlane has made modern readers look a little more closely at the natural world with his series of books about the important wild things we have lost tough with in out modern, mechanized world. Now, he heads underground, exploring caves and sink holes, burial chambers and catacombs beneath our cities and countryside. His explorations into the dark and claustrophobic world beneath our feet is fascinating, but I was most captivated by his imaginings about the things that may have happened underground centuries, millenia and eons before. A book to both treasure and savour