Hollow Earth

by David Standish

Perseus Books, 303 pp, $24.95

From the back cover: “A fascinating and beautifully illustrated cultural history of ideas about what might exist under the Earth's surface-in mythology, religion, science, literature, and plain old crackpottery.

Beliefs in mysterious Underworlds are as old as humanity. From the ancient Sumerians to Incas to modern Christians, nearly every culture has had its special version. However, the idea that the earth has a hollow interior where strange lands, creatures, and civilizations may exist was first proposed as a scientific theory in 1692 by Sir Edmund Halley (of Halley's comet fame). Since then, it has been used as a popular literary motif by writers as varied as Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, to name a few.

Hollow Earth traces this notion through the centuries and cultures, exploring how each era's relationship to the notion of a hollow earth reflected its particular hopes, fears, and values. Lavishly illustrated-including Bosch's inspired surreal nightmares of Hell, seventeenth-century maps and diagrams of the interior, illustrations from early Jules Verne editions and other novels, pulp art from World War I through the 1940s, plus movie posters and much more - this unique book will appeal to readers of many sorts: those interested in the history of science, religion, utopian fiction, and real-life experiments; science fiction fans, film buffs, and those intrigued by the remarkable evolution of ideas over centuries.”

For a Science Fiction fan, this is a great and well-illustrated book. Being a big fan of Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs, I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. The first hollow earth book I read was Tarzan at the Earth's Core and later the Pellucidar series that Burroughs also wrote. Chapter seven is "Burroughs At the Earth's Core". And Chapter 4 is "Jules Verne: A Journey to the Center of Geology." Both gave me insight to the real lives of both authors.

The end of the book just stops short and leaves you wondering where the last chapter went? Maybe the ninth chapter is up to you to figure out for yourself. The only other thing is I wish Hollow Earth was illustrated in color. - Craig L Dyer