Underland cover art

Underland

A Deep Time Journey

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Underland

By: Robert Macfarlane
Narrated by: Roy McMillan
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Shortlisted for the Best Nonfiction Audiobook at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020.

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2019
WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2020

'You'd be crazy not to read this book' The Sunday Times

A Guardian Best Book of the 21st Century

From the internationally bestselling, prize-winning author of Landmarks, The Lost Words and The Old Ways

In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland's glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet's past and future. Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane's long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2020

'Macfarlane has invented a new kind of book, really a new genre entirely'
The Irish Times

'He is the great nature writer, and nature poet, of this generation' Wall Street Journal

'Macfarlane has shown how utterly beautiful a brilliantly written travel book can still be' Observer on The Old Ways

'Irradiated by a profound sense of wonder... Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly' Independent on Landmarks

'It sets the imagination tingling...like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems' The Sunday Times on The Old Ways

© Robert Macfarlane 2019 (P) Penguin Audio 2019

Ecosystems & Habitats Environment Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Travel Writing & Commentary Conservation Polar Region Thought-Provoking Inspiring Natural History Sailing

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Critic reviews

a brilliant, thrilling, terrifying work of literature, making me want to think more adventurously and live more deeply.
All Macfarlane's books are urgings to take a closer look at the environment we live in, and at the natural world especially. They are perception-shifters. And with its darker, delving subject matter counter-weighing its lyricism, Underland is a magnificent feat of writing, travelling and thinking that feels genuinely frontier-pushing, unsettling and exploratory
Robert Macfarlane is a magician with words. In Underland he shows us how to see in the dark. His writing is like a vortex... Once caught, you're pulled deeper and deeper with each page (Andrea Wulf, best-selling author of 'The Invention of Nature')
Devastating, lyrical, blazingly vivid... An examination of the darknesses invisible beneath our feet. The book's great power comes from Macfarlane's deliberate turn away from despair and toward a deliberate, loving, and luminous sense of awe (Lauren Groff)
Robert Macfarlane's writing reminds us of the astonishing variety of things you can see when you go at walking speed, and of how strange and rich the world is (Philip Pullman)
The great nature writer, and nature poet, of this generation
Exquisite. [Robert Macfarlane] evokes so vividly places to which I and probably you will never go, and at the eeriness of the places themselves and the sense of vast scale they restore to us at a time when it can feel like the world has shrunken around us (Rebecca Solnit)
An epic descent into a series of underground and underwater landscapes
Beautifully written and wise, this haunting book is a treasure... It reads like a seamless dive, crawl, and trek through deep time, in sense-rich landscapes, accompanied by fascinating views of the human saga. Its unique spell is irresistible (Diane Ackerman)
Beautifully and bravely balanced... This is a radical book in every sense. It goes as deep as it can, unafraid of the risk that what it finds will turn everything on its head
All stars
Most relevant
A truly outstanding work combining beautiful prose with science, folk-lore, history and anthropology. I strongly recommend this book.

Excellent

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I loved this book and feel like I need to start again to really take it in as it as densely packed with treasures and the earth it praises.

Thought provoking and powerful

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I saw the cover in a book shop and was drawn to it immediately but thought it looked a little to heavy for me to read on holiday or when going to bed.
About a year later I broke my arm and missing reading books joined Audible and it was my first choice to download.
I spent many hours escaping from life and the inconvenience of my arm listening to and enjoying this read.
Thank you

A great listen

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A truly remarkable book by an outstanding author. I don’t usually read this type of book but I’m so glad I chose it. I loved it. You really feel you are with this poet cum explorer on his adventures into the remote parts of this world, above and below ground. Beautifully read too.

Amazing book

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from the way it's read by Roy Macmillan, to the subtle sounds that bring you into each chapter the sounds of this audio book is phenomenal! it's one of my go tos of easy listening because, I always discover a new recomendation from Robert MacFarlane. who samples books like beats to create this overview of the anthropocene, whilst giving us all of his reference material I really commend him on his style of writing as an introduction to literature about climate, nature and exploration you need look no further I must have downloaded about 10 excellent books from his research all of which helped me to understand the subject matter. everything you could want from an audio book!

everything you want from an audio book

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