Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet

Will Hunt (Goodreads Author)

3.83 · Rating details · 1,142 ratings · 219 reviews

A panoramic investigation of the subterranean landscape, from sacred caves and derelict subway stations to nuclear bunkers and ancient underground cities—an exploration of the history, science, architecture, and mythology of the worlds beneath our feet.

When Will Hunt was sixteen years old, he discovered an abandoned tunnel that ran beneath his house in Providence, Rhode

When Will Hunt was sixteen years old, he discovered an abandoned tunnel that ran beneath his house in Providence, Rhode Island. His first tunnel trips inspired a lifelong fascination with exploring underground worlds, from the derelict subway stations and sewers of New York City to sacred caves, catacombs, tombs, bunkers, and ancient underground cities in more than twenty countries around the world. Underground is both a personal exploration of Hunt’s obsession and a panoramic study of how we are all connected to the underground, how caves and other dark hollows have frightened and enchanted us through the ages.

In a narrative spanning continents and epochs, Hunt follows a cast of subterraneaphiles who have dedicated themselves to investigating underground worlds. He tracks the origins of life with a team of NASA microbiologists a mile beneath the Black Hills, camps out for three days with urban explorers in the catacombs and sewers of Paris, descends with an Aboriginal family into a 35,000-year-old mine in the Australian outback, and glimpses a sacred sculpture molded by Paleolithic artists in the depths of a cave in the Pyrenees.

Each adventure is woven with findings in mythology and anthropology, natural history and neuroscience, literature and philosophy. In elegant and graceful prose, Hunt cures us of our “surface chauvinism,” opening our eyes to the planet’s hidden dimension. He reveals how the subterranean landscape gave shape to our most basic beliefs and guided how we think about ourselves as humans. At bottom, Underground is a meditation on the allure of darkness, the power of mystery, and our eternal desire to connect with what we cannot see.

PRAISE FOR UNDERGROUND:

“A mesmerizingly fascinating tale . . . I could not stop reading this beautifully written book.”—Michael Finkel, author of The Stranger in the Woods

“Few books have blown my mind so totally, and so often. In Will Hunt’s nimble hands, excursion becomes inversion, and the darkness turns luminous. There are echoes of Sebald, Calvino, and Herzog in his elegant and enigmatic voice, but also real warmth and humor. . . . An intrepid—but far from fearless—journey, both theoretically and terrestrially.”—Robert Moor, New York Times bestselling author of On Trails

“Underground left me, for days, wanting to go there—down, down, down, into the moisture and the mystery. It succeeds as reportage, as memoir, as historical survey and philosophical reflection. Will Hunt is a generous and literate mole man, beckoning us always to look lower.”—Ted Conover, author of Newjack

“An unusual and intriguing travel book, into the world beneath the world we know . . . a vivid illumination of the dark and an effective evocation of its profound mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Underground is for anyone who’s ever peered into a crack in the earth and felt that peculiar blend of unease and curiosity. Read this and you will never look at the ground beneath you in the same way again.”—Steve Rinella, author of MeatEater and American Buffalo

“Will Hunt explores the subterranean world in all of its historic and psychological grandeur. This tour de force just might make you want to pull on a pair of rubber boots and strap on a headlamp to get a peek at the places we've forgotten.”—Scott Carney, New York Times bestselling author of What Doesn’t Kill Us ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published January 29th 2019 by Spiegel & Grau

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Underground, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma

Lit Hub's Most Anticipated 2019

32 books — 10 voters

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Best of Outdoor Literature

233 books — 58 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.83 ·

Rating details

· 1,142 ratings · 219 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet

Jan 03, 2019 Will Hunt rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

To be fair, I wrote this book ;)

flag 103 likes · Like · see review

Feb 19, 2019 Jessaka rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

Will Hunt spent time in the N.Y. underground, the subway tunnels. Revs did as well. Revs was a graffiti artist who spent many years using N.Y. City as a canvas. He became famous, but not in a way that made him money. Then Revs took a ladder, paints, and other tools of his trade into the subway tunnels at night when no one was watching. He picked out the most obscure sections, tose filled with darkness, to begin writing his book. With a paint roller and yellow or white paint, he made large book ...more

flag 43 likes · Like · see review

Oct 03, 2018 Nick T. Borrelli rated it it was amazing

Very cool book about the unique world of our subterranean landscape. Whether it be subway systems, mines, catacombs, underground tunnels, etc.... This is a fascinating world tour penned by an urban explorer who documents the amazing underground world that exists and that we rarely even notice or think about. A quick read but a very fun one that I found entertaining and enlightening. Definitely pick this one up when it comes out in January of 2019.

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2019 Mel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015, 2019

Imagine yourself on an afternoon hike, stooping to push aside branches blocking a walk that meandered off the beaten path, and upon removing the pile of debris feeling the breath of a world beneath you coming from a small obscure opening in the ground. It takes a certain type of person to venture into this opening.

Interesting and well-researched; more philosophical than I expected. Author Will Hunt, I discovered, is equal parts thrill-seeker, philosopher, and academic. The mythology and other Imagine yourself on an afternoon hike, stooping to push aside branches blocking a walk that meandered off the beaten path, and upon removing the pile of debris feeling the breath of a world beneath you coming from a small obscure opening in the ground. It takes a certain type of person to venture into this opening.

Interesting and well-researched; more philosophical than I expected. Author Will Hunt, I discovered, is equal parts thrill-seeker, philosopher, and academic. The mythology and other pieces of history the author connects to the world-wide sites he visits are worth thinking about. The author goes deep, both literally and figuratively and does a good job of accomplishing a well thought out and structured book about the subject of *worlds* (civilizations, creations, megacosms).
description

REVS’ autobiography, in the farthest folds of NY's subway

Descending into underground of Paris

Where I expected more of a look into unknown subterranean discoveries through the eyes of a thrill-seeking explorer, I was educated rather than merely thrilled. True, it is thrilling to think of new discoveries beneath the feet we think are standing on terra firma. I was impressed by the information Hunt covers and the many diverse locations he shares. More importantly, I was humbled by the reminder of the stewardship we have over our earth, and that we seem to be drifting away from the sense of respect and appreciation for our planet that generations before us have had, especially indigenous peoples.
description

The Panel of the Great Black Cow, in the Cave at Lascaux

Unicorn, in the Hall of the Bulls
As we move more towards what we term scientific, we forget other possibilities. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Aboriginal Rock Art

Citing some mind-bending theories, Hunt discusses scientists that have supported the possibility of life beginning actually beneath the surface of what was a violently evolving planet. The primordial incubation of life in the womb of Mother Earth aligns with the comparative mythology of several indigenous peoples. Whether you are Team Core Accretion or Team Disk Instability, the fact that these two theories of how our Earth formed are still "duking it out" adds to an interesting examination of how close what we think we know matches to how much we actually know, and how close mythology walks in the shadow of science. ...more

flag 22 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2019 Julie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

This was a deeply profound book. It was also a love letter from the author to tunnels and caves and all else that lurks under our feet. The author is obsessed to put it mildly, but thank goodness because it’s only through obsessed people that we learn things.

The author descends where few have or ever will to report back on what is down there. What he finds is strange and beautiful and mysterious. What he finds is our history and our religion. What he finds is each of us, whether we know it or ...more

flag 19 likes · Like · see review

Apr 13, 2019 thefourthvine rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

And this is why it is inadvisable to take recommendations from Overdrive, I guess, because I'm sure this book would be great for someone, but it was a resounding meh for me.

The book is part travelogue, part philosophical meandering, and here's the thing: I am always here for travel stories, but you have to earn your wittering on about the human psyche and the universal urge and blah blah numinous liminal holy blah. You also have to keep the ratio of actual narrative to things you think about ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Dec 28, 2018 Isa rated it it was amazing

Underground is one of the most poetic, breathtaking and ambitious books I have read in a long time. Hunt offers a delightful and unexpected journey, a fantastic expedition full of discoveries, surprising facts and wonderful anecdotes. He is a clever and tenacious explorer, who places himself as an illuminating guide through the most secretive and curious places in a world I never suspected could exist. It is a boundary-breaking tale set between past legends and rituals, secret tunnels alive ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2018 Flint Bill rated it it was amazing

One of the best works of non-fiction I've read in a while. Elegantly written, meticulously researched. Hunt went everywhere for this book! So many discoveries to be made about the world's caves, catacombs, mines, sewers and other holes in the ground. And it's beautifully illustrated. Recommend a hundred times over.

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2019 R Littlefield rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, nature-writing, history, archaeology

This non-fiction work starts off as a personal, memoir exploration of the author's preoccupation with subterranean worlds and expands into a much broader investigation, which ultimately explores the very roots of human spirituality. A unique and poetic and illuminating read.

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2019 Nicolaus Stengl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet” is an extraordinarily well-researched book about the cavernous realm just beneath us. Will Hunt is our Virgil, guiding us into and through the subterranean world, and enthusing this tour with erudition, vitality, and an explorer’s yearning to explore our world and our place in it.

Will Hunt’s writing masterfully evokes W.G. Sebald; he mixes travelogue, biography, autobiography, history, science, documentary, and literary criticism. ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Nov 06, 2018 Jocelyn rated it it was amazing

I requested this book thinking it would be about something entirely different and was pleasantly surprised by what i found. This book travels (literally) into many different types of underground and goes into the historical, religious, and artistic aspects of each. Very engaging writing style and well edited, i thought this book was wonderful.

I received a free review copy odd this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 02, 2019 Sara rated it it was amazing

This books combines basically all of my favorite things: travel, exploration, photography, graffiti, archaeology, anthropology....with a splash of philosophy. The author is present in the narrative but not irritatingly so. The book feels personal without feeling autobiographical. I want to read a full book on just about every chapter - the mythology and consistent fascination with the underground throughout human history is truly fascinating.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

May 22, 2019 Julianna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I just want to be in a hole in the ground

Fascinating and entertaining, with some truly beautiful prose, especially toward the end. Extensively researched and engaging. I'll know I'll be revisiting this for inspiration down the line.

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2018 Ariel rated it it was amazing

This book was absolutely fantastic. Hunt is a fantastic writer, who manages to make his trips to these various places both scary and charming, and does an excellent job of conveying the importance and fascination of the history surrounding it all. I learned so many things I didn't know before, and want to spew these facts at everyone I know, which I consider a mark of greatness in nonfiction. Definitely read.

Thanks Edelweiss for an e-arc! It gets 5 glowing stars.

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2019 Out of the Bex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A love letter to a lost world.

Will Hunt chronicles his search for meaning in the oft undiscovered world beneath our feet with a work that is part travel journal, part anthropological study. Hunt writes of his numerous explorations underground from the catacombs of Paris and the vast tunnels of NYC, to untouched caves in South America and Australia—and everything in between. His thoughtful commentary remarks on the discoveries of some of history’s greatest minds juxtaposed with that of the common A love letter to a lost world.

Will Hunt chronicles his search for meaning in the oft undiscovered world beneath our feet with a work that is part travel journal, part anthropological study. Hunt writes of his numerous explorations underground from the catacombs of Paris and the vast tunnels of NYC, to untouched caves in South America and Australia—and everything in between. His thoughtful commentary remarks on the discoveries of some of history’s greatest minds juxtaposed with that of the common traveler turned dirt evangelist, a commentary proving that an enduring and utterly human fascination with the underground world has always existed and will exist inevitably into the future.

Perhaps enhanced by the otherworldly circumstances in which these events took place, it’s clear Hunt has a gift for understanding the importance of narrative even in nonfiction. He reports real happenings as if a story and does so in a voice that is at times conversational, at times introspective. A writing style that in itself requires digging into. Each chapter is a thoughtful thirty pages in which Hunt alternates his own stories of adventure and discovery with reverent tales of the explorers who came before him.

WHAT WOULD I CHANGE

UNDERGROUND is written with a mesmerizing prose designed to incite wonder, but descriptions seem always only half cast, as though the author is not fully willing to share every secret.

Perhaps we can’t begrudge these withholdings. After all, adventure belongs solely to the adventurer himself. We, the reader and witness, are allowed only the glimpse we deserve from the safety of our armchairs, lit with reading lamps and a comfortable cup of tea at our side. Some things must be left undiscovered and undocumented, left for our own internal meanderings which I believe the author hopes to inspire by his documentation of a subsurface largely unknown.

Two notes on structure stand out as what I could see as potential improvements. Firstly, the sentence structure itself, which acts as a sort of start and stop hap-dash of commas and semicolons thar far exceeds the average. This is due in part to the work’s conversational style, but does require some acclimating. Secondly, the book is punctuated with numerous black and white photos that sometimes lack full description. I would have appreciated the occasional italicized caption with more detail.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This startling and thought-provoking work unearths a connection to the depths at once spiritual and biological, a revelation that astounds even the most casual of readers. A must-read for the spare traveller, the amateur archaeologist, the pioneer, the naturalist, the spiritualist, the dreaming anthropologist—but most importantly, the lingering explorer who lies buried in the hidden cavities of every human soul.

VERDICT: Buy It
...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2019 Karen rated it it was amazing

https://booksnooks.wordpress.com/2019...

Beneath my feet lies a 300 million-year-old petrified rainforest– the second largest in the world. Pictures of it can be seen here. It’s incredible to imagine that this snowy countryside was once a tropical rainforest and that its remains are now buried deep below where I stand today. Scientific proof of what once was. Do you ever wonder about what used to be? Do you wonder about what can’t be seen.

Will Hunt’s curiosity about the unknown began the summer https://booksnooks.wordpress.com/2019...

Beneath my feet lies a 300 million-year-old petrified rainforest– the second largest in the world. Pictures of it can be seen here. It’s incredible to imagine that this snowy countryside was once a tropical rainforest and that its remains are now buried deep below where I stand today. Scientific proof of what once was. Do you ever wonder about what used to be? Do you wonder about what can’t be seen.

Will Hunt’s curiosity about the unknown began the summer he turned 16, when he discovered an abandoned train tunnel that ran under his neighborhood. It was this experience that eventually launched his passion for urban exploring- a hobby that allowed him to travel all over the world as he sought out abandoned subway platforms (ghost stations), dodged police officers in foreign countries, and encountered “Mole People”. While in the Catacombs of Paris, he even came across an underground library, La Librairie, where urban explorers left books for others to borrow. Oh, my soul!

"I saw that we- all of us, the human species- have always felt a quiet pull from the underground, that we are connected to this realm as we are to our own shadow."

I must say my favorite bit may have been the story about the “Mole Man of Hackney” who decided to dig a wine cellar in his basement and never stopped. He kept burrowing until his home started to collapse. In his words, “I just have a big basement.”

Underground by Will Hunt was fascinating and really well done! If you are a fan of traveling from your couch or, like me, are simply saving your cabbage and working all the side hustles so you can travel in real life, this is the book for you! Hearing about his expeditions energized my sense of adventure and learning the science of the “worlds beneath our feet” caused me to look at things from a whole new perspective. Microbiologists keep finding life deeper and deeper inside the earth and are even discovering pockets of water that are more than a billion years old. In addition, it’s estimated that more than half of the world’s caves are undiscovered! We explore outer space, but there is so much to find here- our oceans and underground landscapes are just as much a mystery. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2019 Tyler Ruggles rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A remarkable book: beautifully written, deeply researched, full of fresh and bold ideas. Bought a copy for everyone in my family!

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2019 Joyce rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, sense-of-place, nonfiction, history, popular-science

This is the kind of quirky book that I love--lots of history, geography, geology, literature, psychology, religion, all tied to a single idea: underground spaces, natural and man-made, and how they've been used over the millennia. I'd never consider going caving myself--I'm way too claustrophobic--but I enjoy reading about the pleasures and all that is to be found. Hunt recounts his research into these spaces from ancient caves to disused subway tunnels and offers an amazing array of facts (or ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2019 Tyler Ruggles rated it it was amazing

Remarkable book: beautifully written, deeply researched, full of fresh and bold ideas. Bought a copy for everyone in my family!

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 26, 2019 Lauri rated it it was amazing

I loved this book, I can't recommend it enough. First of all, it is beautifully written - Will Hunt is an Author, in the truest sense of the word. Second, it is much more than just an exploration of underground spaces around the world - an abandoned train tunnel in my own city of Providence, the catacombs in Paris, prehistoric caves in Europe, sewers and old subway stations in NYC, and whole underground cities in Turkey. It is an examination of what it means to be human. Journeying into the ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 03, 2019 Kirsty rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, novel-research

I loved this – the writing is beautiful and I dog-eared so many pages to refer back to. As a claustrophobe I will never, ever understand the desire to go deep underground –I honestly can't think of anything worse. But Will Hunt does a great job of exploring the push-pull of desire and fear that draws people underground, both now and throughout history. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 20, 2019 Jeimy rated it really liked it

I just want Will Hunt to invite me to explore some of his favorite underground haunts. This book was riveting not only because of the places and characters we meet, but also the writing style.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 13, 2019 John Machata rated it it was amazing

Erudite, odd exploration of the world little known to most of us. Wonderful story teller. Worth reading for anyone interested in human existence.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2019 Kendra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Will Hunt writes about being underground so well that I actually experienced a touch of claustrophobia reading this book. It's a terrific read: one very individual lifelong interest in what lies beneath our cities, fields, farms, mountains, and deserts. Hunt goes caving and lives with the dark in numerous places and with complete respect for the cultures into whose caves he ventures.I loved learning about how cave spirits are universal, that the worship of cave deities is common, that caves have ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 10, 2019 Naomi Youngstein rated it it was amazing

What an interesting and unusual book! I appreciated the visuals and thought that the chapter on the French bison was particularly compelling.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 04, 2019 Tessy Consentino rated it it was amazing

What a fascinating book!

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2019 Jypsy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Underground delves into a subject that most of us never think about. What is going on underground? This book explores that question in fascinating ways. Subways, tunnels, and many places we know nothing about. People live and die underground. It is its own culture. I recommend this book for everyone. It's a good idea to know what is going on underground. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

May 23, 2019 Max rated it it was amazing

Very interesting book; each chapter went fast and was interesting. Nice mix of facts and personal stories.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2018 Steve rated it liked it

Falls short in content

There is so much below us - subways, water pipes, sewage, electrical wires, etc - that have helped create the society we know. Yet the book focuses on the role of the underground in folklore and religion, which was I found only somewhat interesting. The book was also memoir, but this part was also bland. Memoirs can be worked well into stories like this, for example “The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs,” by Steve Brusatte or “Built on Bones,” by Brenna Hassett.
Disclosure: I ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 26, 2019 Elizabeth A.G. rated it it was amazing

What an interesting, well-written book that brings the reader into subterranean worlds around the globe. This book is part memoir, part history, part philosophy, & mythology that expands our terrestrial lives into the world below. Wonderful!

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
NPR Book Club: Book for February 2019-Underground	1	13	Feb 01, 2019 02:45PM
Book for February 2019-Underground	1	3	Feb 01, 2019 02:43PM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Nonfiction

140 users

History

105 users

Travel

27 users

Science

23 users

See top shelves…

About Will Hunt

Will Hunt

87 followers

Will Hunt’s writing, photography, and audio storytelling have appeared in The Economist, The Paris Review Daily, The Atavist, The Guardian, Discover, Audible Originals, and Outside, among other places. A recipient of grants and fellowships from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the MacDowell Colony, he is currently a ...more

Books by Will Hunt

I misteri del sottosuolo: Storia umana del mondo sotterraneo

Subterráneo: Una historia humana de los mundos que existen bajo nuestros pies

More…

Trivia About Underground: A Hu...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Underground: A Hu...

“The underground teaches us to respect mystery. We live in a world obsessed with illumination, where we blaze our floodlights over every secret, strive to reveal every furrow, to root out every last trace of darkness, as though it were a kind of vermin. In our connection to subterranean space, we ease our suspicion of the unknown, and recognize that not everything should be revealed, not all the time. The underground helps us accept that there will always be lacunae, always blind spots. It reminds us that we are disorderly, irrational creatures, susceptible to magical thinking and flights of dreaming and bouts of lostness, and that these are our greatest gifts. The underground reminds us of what our ancestors always knew, that there is forever power and beauty in the unspoken and unseen.” — 1 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — Underground by Will Hunt

Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Will Hunt

Books by Will Hunt

Trivia About Underground: A Hu...

Quotes from Underground: A Hu...

See a Problem?

Preview — Underground by Will Hunt

Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Will Hunt

Books by Will Hunt

Trivia About Underground: A Hu...

Quotes from Underground: A Hu...

new topic
Discuss This Book