Tales from the Underground: A Natural History of Subterranean Life

Este livro nos mostra como vivemos entregues ao chauvinismo do macro, do visível, e acabamos por ignorar tudo aquilo que pisamos sem perceber o universo sobre o qual caminhamos.

I bought this book because it was referenced in David Haskell’s The Forest Unseen, which I greatly admire for its poetic exploration of a forest microcosm. The latter did indeed open my eyes to the huge diversity of life that exists beneath the ground, and made me eager to find out more. Wolfe’s Tales certainly extended my sense of wonder, but the prose is definitely more down to earth. The title seems very deliberate. At first I though it was just a campy play on words, but the approach throughout is to stimulate interest through selective stories, rather than bury the reader in detail.The chapters are arranged in three sections, corresponding roughly to the past, present and future prospects of the subterranean ecosystem. I found the first two most interesting, particularly the concepts that life on Earth evolved from the inside out, and the degree of symbiosis between species and even kingdoms of life. For someone who is not an expert in this field, much of this information was revelatory. I felt there was some erosion of momentum in the third section, dealing with mankind’s literal poisoning of the earth. The prairie dog is given poster mammal treatment for these changes, while complex topics like acid rain and climate change were breezed over in just a few pages. Some other reviewers seem to think that the author should have dug deeper, but I found this introductory, overview approach stimulating. You might even say ground-breaking.

This is a really well written and interesting book. It really pulls you in as it explains the technical side of the microorganisms under out feet in a simple manner. Additionally it is technical enough that it is easy to look up information about particular things that were mentioned.

Fascinating reading for this gardener.

This book is science at the level one sees on television. The emphasis is on the strange and unusual, liberally spiced with the author's opinions and prejudices. Alternative theories and explanations are either ignored or dismissed out of hand.Suitable for a juvenile audience.