{"product_id":"the-world-beneath-our-feet-the-hidden-life-of-soil-and-why-it-matters-to-us-all","title":"The World Beneath Our Feet: The Hidden Life of Soil and Why It Matters to Us All","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eDr. Frank Ashwood \u003c\/b\u003eis a soil ecologist and macrophotographer, specialising in soil invertebrates. He is a Lecturer at Lincoln University and at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and obtained his PhD in environmental management from the University of Lancashire in the UK. Frank's macrophotography of soil organisms has been featured in \n\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, and has been exhibited internationally. This is his first book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Frank Ashwood reveals a startling world that lies beneath our feet, populated by astonishing life forms. It transformed my understanding of soil and land. This is an underground journey in which the reader encounters the otherworldly species that form the basis of all terrestrial life.... I now officially live on a planet I hardly knew existed. An extraordinary outcome from a single book.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Paul Hawken\u003c\/b\u003e, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eCarbon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A travelogue to a land of mystery and wonder, which just so happens to be hiding in plain view. Frank Ashwood is your guide to what happens below us, deep down in the soil, where roots and bugs and bacteria lay the foundation for the surface world, and the interconnectedness of our entire planet.\" \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--\u003c\/i\u003eSteve Brusatte, \u003ci\u003e New York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of\u003ci\u003e The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Revelatory. Astonishing and full of delight. This book will change forever the way you see the ground beneath your feet.... Ashwood has written the definitive field guide to the world of soil and in doing so, shows just how dazzling and important this hidden world is to our survival. This is nature writing at its best and a book for our time.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Leila Philip\u003c\/b\u003e, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eBeaverland\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Soil could not have a better ambassador than Frank Ashwood. His infectious delight and love for the tiny denizens of the earth shines through, making earthworms glisten, beetles shine, and springtails leap off the page. This book will make you place your feet with care, mindful for the first time of the beautiful world beneath.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Bethany Brookshire, author of \u003ci\u003ePests\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"With a perfect blend of wisdom, warmth, and wonder, Frank Ashwood champions the hidden biodiversity living underground. \n\u003ci\u003eThe World Beneath our Feet \u003c\/i\u003eis an eye-opening primer on an extraordinary and little-known realm, one that just happens to be essential to all of us living above it.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Thor Hanson, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Triumph of Seeds\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Exhilarating, revelatory and written with a delight that is as infectious as it is irresistible, \n\u003ci\u003eThe World Beneath Our Feet\u003c\/i\u003e is a joy.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--James Bradley, author of \u003ci\u003eDeep Water\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This is a thrilling and delightful book. It opens a treasure chest of fascinating insights into our most neglected ecosystem.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--George Monbiot, author of \u003ci\u003eFeral\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Vital, brilliant, wholly absorbing... a masterpiece of science writing, and a subject that is the most important of all to our own survival.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Isabella Tree, co-author of \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Wilding\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This book has massive, understated charm. I used merely to like earthworms. Now I truly admire them. Ashwood has made soil science enchanting.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Noreen Masud, author of \u003ci\u003eA Flat Place\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Illuminating. . . . [Ashwood] combines accessible science writing with a palpable sense of wonder. . . . This transforms an often-overlooked ecosystem into a source of awe and urgent concern.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA 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 surface\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe 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. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \n\u003ci\u003e The World Beneath Our Feet\u003c\/i\u003e, 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. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePowerfully 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, \n\u003ci\u003eThe World Beneath Our Feet \u003c\/i\u003eopens our eyes to the hidden and wondrous world of soil--perhaps the greatest unexplored frontier on our planet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/15\/2026 (EAN 9780593978320, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496126120214,"sku":"9780593978320","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780593978320.jpg?v=1783053587","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-world-beneath-our-feet-the-hidden-life-of-soil-and-why-it-matters-to-us-all","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}