The Earth Beneath My Feet is the first of two books that describe an epic 7,000-mile wilderness walk across an entire continent. Like millions of people, Andrew Terrill grew up on the edge of a big city. But for Terrill, suburban life felt predictable and crowded - the days lacked purpose and meaning. What he craved was a life of freedom, adventure and simplicity, and after nearly dying in the Swiss Alps that was the life he chose. In May 1997 he left his London home and travelled to the southernmost point of Calabria, Italy. Once there, he turned north and began walking, headed for Norway's North Cape. Leaving civilisation behind, Terrill journeyed deep into the 'other Europe', the hidden wilderness Europe that still exists beyond road's end. Hiking from the Apennine mountain range - a wild side of Italy few outsiders ever know - to the vast northern wildernesses of Arctic Norway, Terrill immersed himself in the natural world, forever seeking a deeper connection with it. The 18-month journey became a voyage of discovery, unveiling the secrets and treasures of Europe's least-known places. The miles brought hardships and struggles, pushed Terrill to his limits, but ultimately led to unimaginable rewards. The Earth Beneath My Feet covers the journey's first eight months, taking readers the entire length of Italy during a searing-hot summer, and across Austria into the depths of an Alpine winter. It is a compelling tale of adventure told with freshness, optimism, wonder and youthful enthusiasm - an inspiring true story of a young man who chose to embrace life and live it to the full.

Down where worms wriggle and microbes squirm, there's a whole world waiting to be discovered... Under Your Feet delves beneath the Earth's surface and explores the diverse wonders hidden there. Encounter creatures of the deep and marvel at the mind-boggling size of the humongous fungus - the biggest organism in the world. Learn how one handful of ordinary soil contains more organisms than there are people on Earth, and carry out experiments using dirt from your own back garden. Under Your Feet offers you the opportunity to expand your knowledge of the natural world and soil-dwelling creatures big and small. Bursting with colorful illustrations and photography, this is the perfect book for budding young plant experts, animal fanatics, and geologists, and anyone who is curious about the ground we walk on.

From the world renowned author of Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses comes Salman Rushdie's brilliant novel The Ground Beneath Her Feet, featuring an epic, exuberant love story with a rock 'n' roll soundtrack. At the beginning of this stunning novel, Vina Apsara, a famous and much-loved singer, is caught up in a devastating earthquake and never seen again by human eyes. This is her story, and that of Ormus Cama, the lover who finds, loses, seeks, and again finds her, over and over, throughout his own extraordinary life in music. Their epic romance is narrated by Ormus's childhood friend and Vina's sometime lover, her "back-door man," the photographer Rai, whose astonishing voice, filled with stories, images, myths, anger, wisdom, humor, and love, is perhaps the book's true hero. Telling the story of Ormus and Vina, he finds that he is also revealing his own truths: his human failings, his immortal longings. He is a man caught up in the loves and quarrels of the age's goddesses and gods, but dares to have ambitions of his own. And lives to tell the tale. Around these three, the uncertain world itself is beginning to tremble and break. Cracks and tears have begun to appear in the fabric of the real. There are glimpses of abysses below the surfaces of things. The Ground Beneath Her Feet is Salman Rushdie's most gripping novel and his boldest imaginative act, a vision of our shaken, mutating times, an engagement with the whole of what is and what might be, an account of the intimate, flawed encounter between the East and the West, a brilliant remaking of the myth of Orpheus, a novel of high (and low) comedy, high (and low) passions, high (and low) culture. It is a tale of love, death, and rock 'n' roll.

'A mesmerizingly fascinating tale, one astonishing adventure after another. I could not stop reading this beautifully written book.' Michael Finkel, author of The Stranger in the Woods 'A unique history of a culturally and scientifically important netherworld most people barely know exists.' Booklist 'An unusual and intriguing travel book ... A vivid illumination of the dark and an effective evocation of its profound mystery.'Kirkus (starred review) 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 moulded 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 – this is a graceful meditation on the allure of darkness, the power of mystery, and our eternal desire to connect with what we cannot see.

On a rainy day, water soaks into the soil. It splashes onto sidewalks and trickles down tiny cracks in the concrete. Where does it go? Deep beneath our feet! We can't see Earth's groundwater, but just like the water on the surface, it's trickling, rushing and moving from one place to another. It's also used as a source of precious fresh water. Readers will learn all about groundwater, including: How does water get into the ground? How does underground water end up in rivers, lakes, and oceans? How do people build wells to access groundwater? And how does groundwater bubble up to the surface to create an oasis in a hot, dry desert? Filled with information perfectly suited to the abilities and interests of an early elementary audience, this colorful, fact-filled volume gives readers a chance not only to learn, but also to develop their powers of observation and critical thinking. With its stunning photographs and surprising, high-interest facts, this book makes learning about water an engaging experience.