Is Underland Worth Reading?
Ada’s Score
Robert Macfarlane descends — into caves, catacombs, nuclear waste repositories, and the deep roots of glaciers — to write this extraordinary meditation on what lies beneath the surface of the world and of human time. Structuring the book around three ancient functions of the underland (keeping safe, disposing of the dead, reading the past), Macfarlane weaves geology, mythology, ecology, and personal adventure into prose of rare lyrical power. The book confronts deep time and climate grief without flinching. It is among the most beautiful and serious works of nature writing published in the twenty-first century.
Literary Spotlight“Macfarlane's prose is unlike anyone else's. Going underground has never felt so vast or so important.”
Into the Dark Below
I think about this book more than almost any other nature writing I've encountered. Robert Macfarlane takes us into caves, catacombs, and underground rivers, but what he's really exploring is how we've always used the world beneath us to hide, to bury, to preserve. His prose has this rare quality of making you feel the weight of millennia pressing down while somehow leaving you breathless with wonder. It fundamentally changed how I think about the ground I walk on.
Ada Brief
AI reading intelligence“Macfarlane's prose is unlike anyone else's. Going underground has never felt so vast or so important.”
Into the Dark Below
I think about this book more than almost any other nature writing I've encountered. Robert Macfarlane takes us into caves, catacombs, and underground rivers, but what he's really exploring is how we've always used the world beneath us to hide, to bury, to preserve. His prose has this rare quality of making you feel the weight of millennia pressing down while somehow leaving you breathless with wonder. It fundamentally changed how I think about the ground I walk on.
Book Details
- Publisher
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Published
- January 1, 2020
- Pages
- 496
- Language
- English
Get This Book
Affiliate linksISBN: 9780393358094
Disclosure: ReadAda earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you.
Ada’s Score Breakdown
4.7
This breakdown reflects how Ada weighs the book’s strengths and flaws, not aggregated reader data.
Common Questions About Underland
- Is Underland worth reading?
- Macfarlane's prose is unlike anyone else's. Going underground has never felt so vast or so important. Ada rates it 4.7 out of 5.
- How many pages is Underland?
- Underland is 496 pages long — around 9–10 hours at an average reading pace.
Ada also recommends
More from Science & Nature
