HERE is a book about subways that takes a somewhat different route from others on the subject. Benson Bobrick gives us the wealth of detail that went into the building of subways in London, Paris, New York, Moscow and other cities, but he also plumbs the mystique of man and the underworld of darkness and fear.

Mr. Bobrick begins with the ancients and the caves, tunnels and labyrinths that figured in human experience, actually and mythologically and religiously. It is an interesting approach, this description of the old awesomeness of the dark and unknown beneath the soil, and the theme's development to the flourishing of the underground in today's world, with shopping centers, such as those in Montreal and Tokyo, giving people an environment in which they need never see sunlight.