To appreciate the wonders of the world around us, we're often told to look up. But what if we need to look down instead?The ground beneath our feet hums with a staggering abundance of winding roots, interconnecting fungal networks, wriggling creatures and mind-blowing microbial life. This glittering ecosystem is the single most biodiverse habitat on the planet. Half of all our species exist underfoot, and just a handful of soil can contain an entire world. Without soil, there would be no life as we know it.Everything that happens below ground sustains all life above it - yet we rarely think about this mysterious, dark underland. In The World Beneath Our Feet soil ecologist Frank Ashwood scratches the surface and takes us on an eye-opening safari through this precious ecosystem, from the ancient forests of New Zealand to the vast black soil deposits of China. Every layer of the pedosphere is a world of its own, each more alien than the last as we travel deeper into the Earth.In a story of connection and communication, we meet pioneering plants and invisible insects that are essential to the health and wellbeing of our planet. We learn how soil makes our very existence possible, allowing us to cultivate crops as well as storing the water we need to survive. We marvel at soil as the Earth's fertiliser and one the building blocks of evolution, transforming decaying matter into the birthplace of new life.The World Beneath Our Feet opens our eyes to the hidden, wondrous world of soil and invites us all to play a part in protecting it for future generations.

A vivid tour into the subterranean that encourages us to look downwards, revealing how the earth's most biodiverse frontier sustains all life above the soil surfaceThe ground beneath us hums with a staggering abundance of winding roots, interconnecting fungal networks, wriggling creatures, and mind-blowing microbial life. This hidden ecosystem is the single most biodiverse habitat on the planet. Over half of all the Earth's species exist underfoot, where decaying matter is transformed into new life; just a handful of soil can contain an entire world. Without soil, there would be no life as we know it—and yet we rarely take the time to know the countless lives happening below.In The World Beneath Our Feet, soil ecologist Frank Ashwood dives deep into this precious ecosystem, spanning the globe from the frozen landscape of Greenland to the black soil deposits of the Amazon and the Eurasian Steppe, while also examining the jaw-dropping evolutionary adaptations that make lives very alien from our own possible. Unearthing soil layers one at a time, Ashwood reveals every sublayer to be a distinct macrocosm, teeming with organisms essential to our planet's wellbeing. Supported by interviews with global soil biologists, as well as his own expert research, Ashwood shows us how life at a microscopic scale impacts us all.Powerfully illuminating the dark depths of the earth, and accompanied by the author's own up-close photography, which magnifies and reveals creatures only millimeters long, The World Beneath Our Feet opens our eyes to the hidden and wondrous world of soil—perhaps the greatest unexplored frontier on our planet.

'Thrilling and delightful' - GEORGE MONBIOT'Vital, brilliant, wholly absorbing... A masterpiece of science writing' - ISABELLA TREE'A travelogue to a land of mystery and wonder' - STEVE BRUSATTEDiscover the extraordinary hidden world beneath our feet, home to more than half of all life on Earth.We spend our lives exploring forests, oceans and even space. Yet the most biodiverse habitat on the planet is right beneath us.In The World Beneath Our Feet, expert scientist and macrophotographer Frank Ashwood takes us on an unforgettable journey into this astonishing underground ecosystem. Travelling from the ancient forests of New Zealand to the vast black soils of the US and China, he reveals a world teeming with life: miniature engineers, microscopic predators, vast fungal networks and billions upon billions of microbes.A single teaspoon of soil can contain up to six billion organisms.Meet earthworms that transform the ground as they move through it, pinhead-sized pseudoscorpions, almost indestructible tardigrades and nematode worms that may be the most abundant animals on Earth. Together, these extraordinary creatures help sustain life above ground, recycling nutrients and supporting the soils that feed our crops, store water and sustain our forests. Soil microbes have even given us life-saving medicines, including antibiotics.Soil stores more carbon than all the world's plants and atmosphere combined, yet degradation, erosion and climate change are putting this vital ecosystem under increasing pressure.This book is a thrilling journey into the hidden world beneath our feet, and why we cannot live without it.'This is nature writing at its best and a book for our time.' - LEILA PHILIP, New York Times'An absolute page-turner.' - JAKE ROBINSON

'Thrilling and delightful' - George Monbiot'Vital, brilliant, wholly absorbing... A masterpiece of science writing' - Isabella treeTo appreciate the wonders of the world around us, we're often told to look up. But what if we need to look down instead?Everything that happens below ground sustains all life above it - yet we rarely think about this mysterious, dark underland. In The World Beneath Our Feet soil ecologist Frank Ashwood scratches the surface and takes us on an eye-opening safari through this precious ecosystem, from the ancient forests of New Zealand to the vast black soil deposits of the US and China. Every layer of the pedosphere is a world of its own, each more alien than the last as we travel deeper into the Earth.The ground beneath our feet hums with a staggering abundance of winding roots, interconnecting fungal networks, wriggling creatures and mind-blowing microbial life. This hidden ecosystem is the single most biodiverse habitat on the planet. Half of all our species exist underfoot, and just a handful of soil can contain an entire world. Without soil, there would be no life as we know it.In a story of connection and communication, we meet pioneering plants and minute animals that are essential to the health and wellbeing of our planet. We learn how soil makes our very existence possible, allowing us to cultivate crops as well as storing precious carbon and the water we need to survive. We marvel at soil as the Earth's fertiliser and one of the building blocks of evolution, transforming decaying matter into the birthplace of new life.The World Beneath Our Feet opens our eyes to the hidden, wondrous world of soil and invites us all to play a part in protecting it for future generations.

To appreciate the wonders of the world around us, we're often told to look up. But what if we need to look down instead?The ground beneath our feet hums with a staggering abundance of winding roots, interconnecting fungal networks, wriggling creatures and mind-blowing microbial life. This glittering ecosystem is the single most biodiverse habitat on the planet. Half of all our species exist underfoot, and just a handful of soil can contain an entire world. Without soil, there would be no life as we know it.Everything that happens below ground sustains all life above it - yet we rarely think about this mysterious, dark underland. In The World Beneath Our Feet soil ecologist Frank Ashwood scratches the surface and takes us on an eye-opening safari through this precious ecosystem, from the ancient forests of New Zealand to the vast black soil deposits of China. Every layer of the pedosphere is a world of its own, each more alien than the last as we travel deeper into the Earth.In a story of connection and communication, we meet pioneering plants and invisible insects that are essential to the health and wellbeing of our planet. We learn how soil makes our very existence possible, allowing us to cultivate crops as well as storing the water we need to survive. We marvel at soil as the Earth's fertiliser and one the building blocks of evolution, transforming decaying matter into the birthplace of new life.The World Beneath Our Feet opens our eyes to the hidden, wondrous world of soil and invites us all to play a part in protecting it for future generations.

A vivid tour into the subterranean that encourages us to look downwards, revealing how the earth's most biodiverse frontier sustains all life above the soil surfaceThe ground beneath us hums with a staggering abundance of winding roots, interconnecting fungal networks, wriggling creatures, and mind-blowing microbial life. This hidden ecosystem is the single most biodiverse habitat on the planet. Over half of all the Earth's species exist underfoot, where decaying matter is transformed into new life; just a handful of soil can contain an entire world. Without soil, there would be no life as we know it—and yet we rarely take the time to know the countless lives happening below.In The World Beneath Our Feet, soil ecologist Frank Ashwood dives deep into this precious ecosystem, spanning the globe from the frozen landscape of Greenland to the black soil deposits of the Amazon and the Eurasian Steppe, while also examining the jaw-dropping evolutionary adaptations that make lives very alien from our own possible. Unearthing soil layers one at a time, Ashwood reveals every sublayer to be a distinct macrocosm, teeming with organisms essential to our planet's wellbeing. Supported by interviews with global soil biologists, as well as his own expert research, Ashwood shows us how life at a microscopic scale impacts us all.Powerfully illuminating the dark depths of the earth, and accompanied by the author's own up-close photography, which magnifies and reveals creatures only millimeters long, The World Beneath Our Feet opens our eyes to the hidden and wondrous world of soil—perhaps the greatest unexplored frontier on our planet.

'Thrilling and delightful' - GEORGE MONBIOT'Vital, brilliant, wholly absorbing... A masterpiece of science writing' - ISABELLA TREE'A travelogue to a land of mystery and wonder' - STEVE BRUSATTEDiscover the extraordinary hidden world beneath our feet, home to more than half of all life on Earth.We spend our lives exploring forests, oceans and even space. Yet the most biodiverse habitat on the planet is right beneath us.In The World Beneath Our Feet, expert scientist and macrophotographer Frank Ashwood takes us on an unforgettable journey into this astonishing underground ecosystem. Travelling from the ancient forests of New Zealand to the vast black soils of the US and China, he reveals a world teeming with life: miniature engineers, microscopic predators, vast fungal networks and billions upon billions of microbes.A single teaspoon of soil can contain up to six billion organisms.Meet earthworms that transform the ground as they move through it, pinhead-sized pseudoscorpions, almost indestructible tardigrades and nematode worms that may be the most abundant animals on Earth. Together, these extraordinary creatures help sustain life above ground, recycling nutrients and supporting the soils that feed our crops, store water and sustain our forests. Soil microbes have even given us life-saving medicines, including antibiotics.Soil stores more carbon than all the world's plants and atmosphere combined, yet degradation, erosion and climate change are putting this vital ecosystem under increasing pressure.This book is a thrilling journey into the hidden world beneath our feet, and why we cannot live without it.'This is nature writing at its best and a book for our time.' - LEILA PHILIP, New York Times'An absolute page-turner.' - JAKE ROBINSON

'Thrilling and delightful' - George Monbiot'Vital, brilliant, wholly absorbing... A masterpiece of science writing' - Isabella treeTo appreciate the wonders of the world around us, we're often told to look up. But what if we need to look down instead?Everything that happens below ground sustains all life above it - yet we rarely think about this mysterious, dark underland. In The World Beneath Our Feet soil ecologist Frank Ashwood scratches the surface and takes us on an eye-opening safari through this precious ecosystem, from the ancient forests of New Zealand to the vast black soil deposits of the US and China. Every layer of the pedosphere is a world of its own, each more alien than the last as we travel deeper into the Earth.The ground beneath our feet hums with a staggering abundance of winding roots, interconnecting fungal networks, wriggling creatures and mind-blowing microbial life. This hidden ecosystem is the single most biodiverse habitat on the planet. Half of all our species exist underfoot, and just a handful of soil can contain an entire world. Without soil, there would be no life as we know it.In a story of connection and communication, we meet pioneering plants and minute animals that are essential to the health and wellbeing of our planet. We learn how soil makes our very existence possible, allowing us to cultivate crops as well as storing precious carbon and the water we need to survive. We marvel at soil as the Earth's fertiliser and one of the building blocks of evolution, transforming decaying matter into the birthplace of new life.The World Beneath Our Feet opens our eyes to the hidden, wondrous world of soil and invites us all to play a part in protecting it for future generations.