Underland: A Deep Time Journey

Macfarlane is often called the great nature writer of his generation, but his vision of nature is not one of a pristine, unpeopled wilderness: his wilds are, for better or worse, deeply human, connected to the culture and language we've built over centuries. Having looked, in his first book, Mountains of the Mind, at how we're drawn to the highest places, now in this gorgeous and provocative new book, he has done the opposite: descending into caves, mines, catacombs, and nuclear storage facilities to unearth our relation, in both myth and practical action, with the underworld. There's no better guide: he writes with a fully grounded beauty, and brings a natural optimism to some of our darkest places. —Tom (James loved Underland too: read his review in last week's Madison newsletter)