Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies

A tour of the worlds hidden geographiesfrom disappearing islands to forbidden desertsand a stunning testament to how mysterious the world remains today At a time when Google Maps Street View can take you on a virtual tour of Yosemites remotest trails and cell phones double as navigational systems, its hard to imagine theres any uncharted ground left on the planet. In Unruly Places, Alastair Bonnett goes to some of the most unexpected, offbeat places in the world to reinspire our geographical imagination. Bonnetts remarkable tour includes moving villages, secret cities, no mans lands, and floating islands. He explores places as disorienting as Sandy Island, an island included on maps until just two years ago despite the fact that it never existed. Or Sealand, an abandoned gun platform off the English coast that a British citizen claimed as his own sovereign nation, issuing passports and crowning his wife as a princess. Or Baarle, a patchwork of Dutch and Flemish enclaves where walking from the grocery stores produce section to the meat counter can involve crossing national borders. An intrepid guide down the road much less traveled, Bonnett reveals that the most extraordinary places on earth might be hidden in plain sight, just around the corner from your apartment or underfoot on a wooded path. Perfect for urban explorers, wilderness ramblers, and armchair travelers struck by wanderlust, Unruly Places will change the way you see the places you inhabit.