Just Finished Reading: Off the Map – Lost Spaces, Invisible Cities, Forgotten Islands, Feral Places and What They Tell Us About the World by Alastair Bonnett (FP: 2014) [300pp] 

It is easy to think that, with Google Maps, Street View, surveillance satellites whizzing over our heads and the ever-present buzzing of drones, everywhere has been mapped, catalogued and categorised and that mystery, the unknown and the delightfully naive ‘here be dragons’ motif no longer exists. I have, mostly, believed this to be true although my faith in the modern surveillance society is shaken whenever people, ships or aircraft ‘go missing’ never to be seen again – but cities, islands, borders? Surely such things are real, physical, stationary... Apparently not. 

I picked up this book years ago on a whim (I know, not like ME at all) and it’s been sitting in a pile of random books waiting to be read. As I’ve also picked up a few more books in similar vein (more later) I thought it was about time to take several journeys to points unknown. I think the first thing that struck me about this delightful narrative is the authors ability to find the odd and the overlooked in the everyday and the ordinary, those places that we walk past every day and ignore so much that they effectively become invisible – that patch of grass (usually with a tree or two) just sitting there, disconnected and often difficult to get to, separated by a busy road or fenced off. Lost spaces. They do give off an ‘Urban Fantasy’ vibe, as if they are half-hidden doorways to other realms that hide in plain sight. I’m sure that they’re everywhere if you open your eyes and see them. Not TOO sure about the exploring bit though. I’d take a well packed bag and a change of clothes, just in case! 

Then there are underground installations, bunkers and indeed whole cities (both modern and ancient) that don’t show up on any map but sit there as if waiting for their occupants to arrive and bring them back from the brink. There are islands that appear almost overnight – often through volcanic action – hang around for a while, for weeks, months, sometimes years and they vanish again after a storm or earthquake. One of the most interesting things I discovered here was that not all borders are, well, borders. Some are fractured for weird historical reasons and you might cross them multiple times within the space of a mile or two without even realising it. Then you have national enclaves within another country – with another enclave inside it. It gives a whole other meaning to ‘border dispute’. Then there is territory that exists outside of any national jurisdiction – not just international airspace, or vast ocean areas outside national limits but also Freeports (often at airports) where nation states have no hold and VAST amounts of wealth accumulate in paintings, other works of art, designer cars and much else. My personal favourite is the micro-nation (like Sealand – about which more later) where individuals or companies buy (or simply take) slices of territory not previously claimed by near-by nations.  

This was in many ways a delightful eye-opener to how unregulated, unnoticed or simply misplaced places can be in a supposedly over-regulated over-documented world under constant and pervasive surveillance. Things, it seems are not really like that. The world is less regimented and more ‘enchanted’ than we realise. To get a flavour of such enchanting places I definitely advise you read this book. You’ll probably start noticing things that previously slipped by you. Much more to come on this intriguing topic!