ABOUT THE BOOK

HIDDEN NATURE tells the story of a vast underground wilderness that underlies the American South. Beyond describing the majesty of the region’s wild caves and the concurrent joys and dangers of exploring them, Michael Ray Taylor examines their scientific import, their relationship to clean water, and their uncertain future.

The book also contains several chapters set in and around Tallahassee, where Taylor began caving in 1979 with the Florida State Cave Club (now the Flint River Grotto). HIDDEN NATURE is a memoir mixed with science, a compelling a personal narrative of the author’s long attraction to these caves and the people who dare enter their hidden chambers.

Michael Ray Taylor is the author of several nonfiction books, including HIDDEN NATURE, CAVE PASSAGES, DARK LIFE, CAVES: Exploring Hidden Realms, and THE CAT MANUAL (a humorous ebook).
As a journalist, Mike has written about science and exploration for The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Houston Chronicle, Wired, Outside, Reader’s Digest, Audubon, and many other print and digital publications. By day he is a journalism professor who chairs the communication and theatre arts department at Henderson State University in Arkansas, but his personal enthusiasm for underground life has led him to collaborate with scientists from NASA and other research centers in various scientific studies.