There’s so much I like about Robert Macfarlane’s writing. His prose is evocative and manages to transport you straight into the environments he writes about. This is sometimes fairly terrifying as regards this book, which provides an account of various adventures underground - including descriptions of tight squeezes in dark caves which left me gasping for breath (if you’re claustrophobic, you might want to give it a miss). The scenes of terror are balanced with scenes of wonder, however, and I was continually amazed by how intrepid Macfarlane is, and by the awesome (in every sense of the word) sites he manages to visit and describe in such glorious detail. Soooometimes his prose tips over into a slightly more precious or pretentious mode which grates on me (in the same way, strangely, that Nigel Slater’s writing sometimes grates on me), but the rest of the writing makes up for it - as evidenced by the many paragpraphs I highlighted while reading. An arresting and immersive book.

Further reading…