Off the Map - Lost Spaces, Invisible Cities, Forgotten Islands, Feral Places and what They Tell Us about the World
In the world of Google Earth, in which it is easy to believe that every discovery has been made and every adventure already had, Off the Map is a stunning testament to how mysterious our planet still is. It takes us into uncharted territory, to places found on few maps and sometimes on none. Their stories will intrigue and sometimes shock you but they all have something important to tell us about how and why place continues to enthral us in a world that is not quite as exhaustively mapped as it can sometimes appear and continues to hold many secrets.
From forgotten enclaves to floating islands, from hidden villages to New York gutterspaces, Off the Map charts the hidden corners of our planet. And while these are not necessarily places you would choose to visit on holiday - Hobyo, the pirate capital of Somalia, or Zheleznogorsk, a secret military town in Russia - they each carry a story about the strangeness of place and our need for a geography that understands our hunger for the fantastic and the unexpected.
Off the Map takes us to the ends of the earth and around the corner to show us some of the most remarkable but least known places on the planet. But it also shows us that topophilia, the love of place, is a fundamental part of what it is to be human. Whether you are an urban explorer or an armchair traveller, Off the Map will inspire and enchant. You'll never look at a map in quite the same way again.