If you were to peel back the Earth's surface like an orange, then take a sly peek underneath, what extraordinary things would you see?
Subterranea is where the world's remaining mysteries are yet to be found. For millennia, across nations and cultures, it has been a hotbed of fantastical stories. It's where humans have kept their most sacred treasures and their darkest secrets. It's where we have found evidence of our past and may, at some point, find an escape route for our uncertain future. But what would we find there today?
From the underground cities of Cappadocia to smuggling tunnels on the US-Mexico border, caves full of tiny blind dragons and a seed vault located 1300km inside the Arctic circle, Subterranea demonstrates that the world below our feet is every bit as vivid and evocative as the world we see around us. Lavishly illustrated and replete with maps and photographs of little-explored locations, Subterranea is the unique, untold and utterly unforgettable story of our planet from the inside.
Chris Fitch is a writer, geographer, and storyteller. His debut book, Atlas of Untamed Places: An Extraordinary Journey through our Wild World, was nominated for a 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award, and translated into multiple languages. Formerly senior staff writer at Geographical, the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society, he has reported from Australia to Kenya, Arizona to the Galápagos Islands, covering global stories on climate change, ecological urbanism, wildlife conservation, cultural revitalisation, sustainable development, geopolitics, science, travel, and more. He is a contributor to international media including The Atlantic, Lonely Planet, and Monocle 24. Born in London, he has lived in New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Solomon Islands.