Underland

Robert Macfarlane's voice reminds me of Kim Stanley Robinson's, and for me this is a compliment. He is lyrical, focused both on the human and the scientific.

The passages about underground cities moved me the most. I don't think I have it in me to visit places so dark, and claustrophobic, and hidden from the world above. I was also fascinated by the focus of the book on Deep Time. How do humans storing nuclear waste plan to tell those who are to come 10,000 years hence that the thing we buried is harmful? Language, iconography, all are insufficient because they will stay the same and the world marches on, forever, until the meanings that were transmitted can no longer be understood.

I was saddened and inspired by this book. Wood reccomend.