What hope is there for Africa? Since the heady & hopeful days of decolonisation the story seems to be one of unrelenting disaster
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Geography is getting stranger. Out there, fleets of new islands are under construction & micro-nations are struggling into the light. As new borders & boundaries ebb & flow with increasing speed, it feels as if our old maps are being discarded, redrawn or torn up. Alastair Bonnett uncovers the stories of thirty-nine extraordinary places, each of which challenges us to re-imagine the world around us. From emerging islands, disruptive enclaves & bold utopian visions to uncanny ruins, ghostly tunnels & hidden landscapes
- these are destinations that lie beyond ordinary coordinates. A follow on from the critically acclaimed Off the Map, this is a timely & fascinating discussion of place, ownership & ideas of state.
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Geography is getting stranger. Out there fleets of new islands are under construction & eye-wateringly insane micro-nations are struggling into the light; unseen rivers are tumbling under sleeping cites & once secret fantasy-gardens are cracking open their doors. As groups like Islamic State fabricate proto-states whose boundaries ebb & flow with each passing day, it certainly feels as if all the old maps are being frantically scribbled over or torn up. Alaistair Bonnet presents the stories of 43 of these extraordinary places, all of which will challenge the very concept of place. The ever more unruly maps of human & physical geography can seem overwhelming. Perhaps that`s why little places, the small secrets, the hidden surprises, have become so important. Alastair will set out on a journey across the world in search of a diverse range of modern utopias, from the Dubai Shopping Mall to the Findhorn eco-community in Scotland & Cybertopias such as Second Life. Beyond the Map takes you to the world`s unruly places, the zones unmarked on any official map that are multiplying & changing fast & asks us to reexamine what the borders of state, place, home mean in today`s world. ...

Beyond the Mountain is a personal & reflective account on climbing written by Steve House, the man Reinhold Messner regards as the best high-altitude climber in the world today. It is a window into the process of a man working to be the best he can at a heightened extreme of existence. House addresses many issues common to non-climbing life such as mentorship, trust, failure, success, goal setting, heroes & partnership, as well as the mountaineer’s more than average experience of the loss of friends & appreciation of life’s risks. * Boardman Tasker Prize 2009 winner.* ...

In the dying days of the eighth century, the Vikings erupted onto the international stage with brutal raids & slaughter. The medieval Norsemen may be best remembered as monk murderers & village pillagers, but this is far from the whole story. Throughout the Middle Ages, long-ships transported hairy northern voyagers far & wide, where they not only raided but also traded, explored & settled new lands, encountered unfamiliar races, & embarked on pilgrimages & crusades. The Norsemen travelled to all corners of the medieval world & beyond; north to the wastelands of arctic Scandinavia, south to the politically turbulent heartlands of medieval Christendom, west across the wild seas to Greenland & the fringes of the North American continent, & east down the Russian waterways trading silver, skins, & slaves. Beyond the Northlands explores this world through the stories that the Vikings told about themselves in their sagas. But the depiction of the Viking world in the Old Norse-Icelandic sagas goes far beyond historical facts. What emerges from these tales is a mixture of realism & fantasy, quasi-historical adventures & exotic wonder-tales that rocket far beyond the horizon of reality. On the crackling brown pages of saga manuscripts, trolls, dragons & outlandish tribes jostle for position with explorers, traders, & kings. To explore the sagas & the world that produced them, Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough now takes her own trip through the dramatic landscapes that they describe. Along the way, she illuminates the rich but often confusing saga accounts with a range of other evidence: archaeological finds, rune-stones, medieval world maps, encyclopaedic manuscripts, & texts from as far away as Byzantium & Baghdad. As her journey across the Old Norse world shows, by situating the sagas against the revealing background of this other evidence, we can begin at least to understand just how the world was experienced, remembered, & imagined by this unique culture from the outermost edge of Europe so many centuries ago. ...

Douglas Kennedy`s ” Beyond the Pyramids” is a superb chronicle of travels through modern Egypt; a landscape strewn with incongruities ...

The first novel from Madagascar ever to be translated into English, Naivo’s magisterial Beyond the Rice Fields delves into the upheavals of the nation’s past as it confronted Christianity & modernity, through the twin narratives of a slave & his master’s daughter. ...

Jamie Zeppa made a life-altering decision at the age of 24 when she left an academic career to join a two-year teaching programme for young Canadians in Bhutan. Bhutan is a notoriously difficult country to visit as a tourist, & the opportunity to live there was one Jamie could not ignore
- despite apprehension about leaving her boyfriend & family behind. The first months were nightmarish & Jamie existed on a meagre diet of crackers & boiled water for fear of catching tape worm or worse. The unpronouncable language, bizarre local customs & basic living conditions all conspired to make her miserably home-sick but the young chidren she was supposedly teaching eventually took her in hand & taught her to cook on an antiquated gas stove: their grateful families gave her fresh fruit & vegetables & Jamie finally discovered that she was surrounded by friends in a beautiful location. Jamie Zeppa has written a book about the difficulties of living within an alien culture, far away from the security of home. She tells, with humour, of the everyday prejudices she was forced to overcome as a white woman abroad & writes with genuine awe about the beauty of Bhutan. Her assessment of & concern for the wavering political stability is forcefully put & her eventual conversion to Buddhism is thought-provoking. Moreover, at the heart of this book is the culture-defying romance which gave Jamie a reason never to leave Bhutan.
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So you want to go into space? WHY?! (No, really
- it`s sort of a terrible idea. We humans are perfectly designed for life on Earth.
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UK & Ireland`s best-loved comedian Dara O Briain takes you on a journey from the safety of your comfiest chair to the furthest reaches of space (and beyond!) So you want to go into space? WHY?! (No, really
- it`s sort of a terrible idea. We humans are perfectly designed for life on Earth. We can walk around, breathe, drink water, eat vegetables, read books, not get poisoned or crushed to death when we go outside
- it`s lovely right where we are.) Not convinced? GOOD! People have been dreaming about space travel for centuries
- there`s something amazing about the idea of leaving our planet behind & setting out to explore the Universe
- there`s so much we still don`t know.



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