Review Detail
Middle Grade Non-Fiction
287
What lies beneath the surface
(Updated: June 04, 2026)
Overall rating
4.0
Writing Style
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
4.0
Learning Value
4.0
Who knew that there were so many underground tunnels, or that they were built over such a long period of time?! From prehistoric tunnels in Cornwall and ancient aqueducts to a Finnish nuclear waste repository built in 2004, this book describes a variety of different underground construction projects from all over the world.
Underground architecture is hard to depict, but Sánchez does a good job at showing cross sections of the buildings, which can't have been easy. I did appreciate that there was sometimes a building on the surface that was shown, when it has the entrances to the tunnels. Of course, now I really want to know how anyone was able to map out the tunnels under Dover Castle, although I'm not surprised that they were used as bunkers during World War II.
The variety of uses for these tunnels is interesting. There is the global seed vault in Svalbard, the Big Dig in Boston, and the Hadron Collider, which are all very official, but also Narcotunnels in Tijuana, tunnels under the Berlin Wall, and the very odd Quinta da Regaleira, a personal palace built by a man who was a Freemason. There is one underground installation that is no more: the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) (1942-2001) that was destroyed in the fall of 2025.
Underground architecture is hard to depict, but Sánchez does a good job at showing cross sections of the buildings, which can't have been easy. I did appreciate that there was sometimes a building on the surface that was shown, when it has the entrances to the tunnels. Of course, now I really want to know how anyone was able to map out the tunnels under Dover Castle, although I'm not surprised that they were used as bunkers during World War II.
The variety of uses for these tunnels is interesting. There is the global seed vault in Svalbard, the Big Dig in Boston, and the Hadron Collider, which are all very official, but also Narcotunnels in Tijuana, tunnels under the Berlin Wall, and the very odd Quinta da Regaleira, a personal palace built by a man who was a Freemason. There is one underground installation that is no more: the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) (1942-2001) that was destroyed in the fall of 2025.
Good Points
The drawings are very detailed, but the backgrounds are a bit dark, which makes it hard to read the text in some instances. This book is rather large, so would be hard for a student to put in a backpack. The paper over board covers that Helvetiq produces do not hold up to school library wear, but would be fine in a home setting.
Hand this to a budding architect along with Gargulakova and Bachorik's Bridges, Bartunek and Velcovsky's From Pyramids to Palaces and How the New Seven Wonders of the World Were Built, Theule and Light's Concrete: From the Ground Up, and Sedlackova and Konecna's Bustling Cities of the World.
Hand this to a budding architect along with Gargulakova and Bachorik's Bridges, Bartunek and Velcovsky's From Pyramids to Palaces and How the New Seven Wonders of the World Were Built, Theule and Light's Concrete: From the Ground Up, and Sedlackova and Konecna's Bustling Cities of the World.
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