Author(s): Alastair Bonnett

Travel Narrative

In a world of Google Earth where we think that the world is fully mapped out, every discovery and adventure made, Off the Map is a stunning testament to how mysterious the world remains today. For fans of Robert Macfarlane, Iain Sinclair, A History of the World in 12 Maps by Jerry Brotton and Judith Schalanksy's Atlas of Remote Islands, Off the Map is a journey through the final remaining hidden places around the world. Whether it is Sealand, an abandoned gun platform off the English coast that a British citizen claimed as his own sovereign nation, making his wife his princess, or Baarle, a patchwork of Dutch and Flemish enclaves where crossing the road can involve traversing multiple national borders; or moving villages, unclaimed deserts, secret cities or underground labyrinths, fully illustrated with original maps and drawing Off the Map shows the modern world from surprising new vantage points that will inspire urban explorers, and armchair travellers alike to consider a new way of understanding the world we live in. Above all, Off the Map is celebration of both our love of places and the desire to imagine new places. From disappearing island to gutterspaces, invisible cities and floating landmasses Alastair Bonnett, Professor of Geography at Newcastle University follows in the great tradition of psycho-geography - the history of places and what they tell us about ourselves - to give the real-life answer to Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities by weaving together what we see on maps to what the world is really like.