Robert Macfarlane is known for his books on language, nature, place, and people. And in our 15th Sprout Book Selection, he invites us down into the darkness… into the catacombs, mines, tunnels that take us back in time.
“From tidal limestone that reacts to the pull of the moon; cave networks with their own weather systems; a huge wave-smashed tunnel called The Troll’s Eye, the sites explored in this book are what Celtic Christian tradition calls thin places.’ Places where the borders between worlds seem almost fluid.”
Together, we journey between storytelling and science, questioning the core differences between those in order to dissect our relationship with planet, and inevitably, with ourselves.
“Entering these light-eating caves swallowed by the earth, we human beings begin to look pretty insignificant, despite having managed to leave our mark on the world around us, and not always in a good way.”
Just as science and storytelling are interlocked, so too are humans and nature; we are the land. Macfarlane reminds us that our teeth are reefs, our bones are stones, and there is a geology of the body as well as of the land. ‘It is the ability to convert calcium into bone that allows us to walk upright, to be vertebrate, to fashion the skulls that shield our brains.’
The fact that we are not separate from everything around us should be entirely obvious, and yet, all too often we humans forget our kin. Macfarlane reminds us of our origin—Re-seeing patterns; Waking up.
I get goosebumps just thinking about this book.
It is time for us to look deeper into who we are, where we come from, and where we will go, and from December to January 2024, we will be doing just that as we read our 15th Plant Wisdom Book Club selection…
Underland
by Robert Macfarlane
A beautiful gift for the intrepid explorer in your life by one of the most acclaimed and beloved nature writers working today…
Traveling through the dizzying expanse of geologic time—from prehistoric art in Norwegian sea caves, to a deep-sunk “hiding place” where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come—Underland takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind.
December 2023 to January 2024 Reading Period
Through this series of haunting descents, Macfarlane plumbs the strange and alarming ways we’ve changed the world and resurfaces with revelations about how to orient us to the future, weaving landscape and language together. -Kate Yoder
“…Underland speaks powerfully to our present moment. At once ancient and urgent, this is a book that will change the way you see the world.”
I am thrilled to read this book with you. Our discussions our going to be PARADIGM SHIFTING!
It all takes place in the Plant Wisdom Book Club*, a part of Seedling Sprouts in the Naturally Conscious Community.
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Plant Wisdom Book Club, a part of Seedling Sprouts
Dedicated to what we can learn from nature, the book club helps foster curiosity and expand our beliefs about plants and ourselvs as beings of nature. Live discussions and a friendly group keep you accountable for reading books you might not otherwise discover. Each book shifts your human perspective in order to regain your connection with plants as potent co-inhabitants, mentors, and collaborators.
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Membership gives you exclusive access to the Plant Wisdom Book Club, Sprouts Writing Group, Mini-Voyages with your Spirit Wild Plant, and live Interspecies Sprouts Gatherings. Try your first month for free (only $3 USD/month after, cancel anytime). >> JOIN HERE <<