Hunt's first tunnel trips inspired a lifelong fascination with exploring underground worlds, from the derelict subway stations and sewers of New York City to the sacred caves, catacombs, and tombs, from bunkers to ancient underground cities in more than twenty countries around the world. In a narrative spanning continents and epochs, Hunt tracks the origins of life with a team of NASA microbiologists a mile beneath the Black Hills, descends with an Aboriginal family into a 35,000-year-old sacred mine in the Australian outback, and more. Each adventure is woven with findings in mythology and anthropology, natural history and neuroscience, literature and philosophy. -- adapted from jacket.