Atlas of Improbable Places

Atlas of Improbable Places
Author: Travis Elborough
Publisher: Aurum Press
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0711264015

Atlas of Improbable Places 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.

Atlas of Improbable Places

Atlas of Improbable Places
Author: Travis Elborough
Publisher: Aurum
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2016-09-01
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 178131635X

Inspiring urban explorers and armchair travellers alike to consider a new way of understanding the world we live in, this unique atlas shows you the modern world from surprising new vantage points. Hidden lairs beneath layers of rock, forgotten cities rising out of deserted lands and even mankind's own feats of engineering eccentricity lie in the most unusual of destinations. Go in search of the obscure and bizarre, the beautiful and estranged, taking in the defiant relics of ancient cities such as Ani, a once thriving metropolis lost to conquered lands, and the church tower of San Juan Parangaricuto, that miraculously stands as the sole survivor of a town sunk by lava. Through the labyrinths of Berlin and Beijing — underground realms dug for refuge, espionage and even, as Canada's Moose Jaw, used as the playground for gangsters trading liquor and money over cards — never forgetting the freaks and wonders of nature's own unusual masterpieces: the magical underground river shaped like a dragon's mouth in the Philippines and the floating world of Palmerston. With beautiful maps and stunning photography illustrating each destination, Atlas of Improbable Places is a fascinating voyage to the world's most incredible destinations. As the Island of Dolls and the hauntingly titled Door to Hell — an inextinguishable fire pit - attest, mystery is never far away. The truths and myths behind their creation are as varied as the destinations themselves. Standing as symbols of worship, testaments to kingships or even the strange and wonderful traditions of old and new, these curious places are not just extraordinary sights but reflections on man's own relationship with the world around us. Also in the Unexpected Atlas series: Atlas of Untamed Places,Atlas of the Unexpected, Atlas of Vanishing Places.

Atlas of Improbable Places

Atlas of Improbable Places
Author: Travis Elborough
Publisher: Aurum Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-03-08
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 9781781317631

It is perhaps the eighth wonder of our world that despite modern mapping and satellite photography our planet continues to surprise us. Hidden lairs beneath layers of rock, forgotten cities rising out of deserted lands and even mankind's own feats of engineering eccentricity lie in the most unusual of destinations. Travis Elborough goes in search of the obscure and bizarre, the beautiful and estranged. Taking in the defiant relics of ancient cities such as Ani, a once thriving metropolis lost to conquered lands, and the church tower of San Juan Parangaricuto, that miraculously stands as the sole survivor of a town sunk by lava. Through the labyrinths of Berlin and Beijing — underground realms dug for refuge, espionage and even, as Canada's Moose Jaw, used as the playground for gangsters trading liquor and money over cards. Never forgetting the freaks and wonders of nature's own unusual masterpieces: the magical underground river shaped like a dragon's mouth in the Philippines and the floating world of Palmerston. With beautiful maps and stunning photography illustrating each destination, Atlas of Improbable Places is a fascinating voyage to the world's most incredible destinations. As the Island of Dolls and the hauntingly titled Door to Hell — an inextinguishable fire pit - attest, mystery is never far away. The truths and myths behind their creation are as varied as the destinations themselves. Standing as symbols of worship, testaments to kingships or even the strange and wonderful traditions of old and new, these curious places are not just extraordinary sights but reflections on man's own relationship with the world around us.

An Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist

An Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist
Author: Nick Middleton
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2017-03-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1452158835

A “fascinating” journey to little-known and contested lands around the globe, from Tibet to the Isle of Man to Elgaland-Vargaland (Geographical Magazine). What is a country? Acclaimed travel writer and Oxford geography don Nick Middleton brings to life the origins and histories of fifty states that, lacking international recognition and United Nations membership, exist on the margins of legitimacy in the global order. From long-contested lands like Crimea and Tibet to lesser-known territories such as Africa’s last colony and a European republic that enjoyed independence for a single day, Middleton presents fascinating stories of shifting borders, visionary leaders, and “forgotten” peoples. “Engrossing . . . You’ll not find Middle-earth, Atlantis or Lilliput inside, but you will find something just as intriguing . . . sure to prompt discussions about what makes a country a ‘real country.’” —Seattle Times

Improbable Voices

Improbable Voices
Author: Derek Anderson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 708
Release: 2020-10-30
Genre:
ISBN:

A NEW APPROACH TO WORLD HISTORYThis uniquely-told world history interweaves the lives of twenty-six women and men who are not well known with the major political, economic, social, and cultural developments that have shaped the human experience through the course of the last 570 years. Meticulously researched and hailed by scholars, yet purposefully written for a broad audience, this book details the lives of doctors and musicians, aristocrats and artists, businessmen and suffragettes, scientists and generals who made essential, but now-largely forgotten, contributions to places and eras as diverse as Reformation Europe, Mughal India, Tokugawa Japan, colonial Australia, and post-colonial Kenya. Improbable Voices possesses both the vivid depth and the expansive breadth a satisfying history of the world warrants. The book is handsomely illustrated and includes over forty original maps. Specific figures include Ethiopia's regent queen Eleni in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; Spain's moderate viceroy in Mexico and Peru, Diego Fernández de Córdoba, in the seventeenth; France's talented salonnière Julie de Lespinasse in the eighteenth, Polynesia's indigenous Christian missionary Ta'unga in the nineteenth; and Saudi Arabia's colorful oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani in the twentieth. The book concludes by examining the work of German and Canadian climatologist Kirsten Zickfeld and the environmental challenges we face in the twenty-first century.

Atlas of Untamed Places

Atlas of Untamed Places
Author: Chris Fitch
Publisher: Aurum Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-09-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781781316771

With beautiful, unique maps and evocative photography, Atlas of Untamed Places is an intrepid voyage to nature’s wildest places. In a world that has increasingly become tamed by human activity, the true wild holds a growing mysticism. Rugged landscapes with unspoilt scenery invoke romantic visions of paradise, but there are also intense and powerful wildernesses that produce fear and awe alike and unexplored zones where feral wildlife roams in the shadows. Chris Fitch takes you on a journey through the world’s most wild places, visiting immensely diverse floral kingdoms, remote jungles abundant with exotic birds, and both freezing cold and scorching hot inhospitable environments. From these natural havens we travel to the extreme and the incredible: lightning inducing lakes, acidic mud baths, and man-eating tiger kingdoms. We encounter places being reclaimed by nature, such as Chernobyl, that after being left abandoned for years are returning to a natural wilderness, free from human intervention. Not forgetting those most bizarre of destinations, such as the tidal surges of the Qiantang River, the bridge to Modo Island that emerges from the sea, and the strange magnetic pull of Jabuka rock. Also in the Unexpected Atlas series: Atlas of Improbable Places, Atlas of the Unexpected, Atlas of Vanishing Places.

Atlas of Imagined Places

Atlas of Imagined Places
Author: Matt Brown
Publisher: Batsford Books
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2021-09-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1849947422

WINNER, Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2022: Illustrated Travel Book of the Year. HIGHLY COMMENDED, British Cartographic Society Awards 2022. From Stephen King's Salem's Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps. The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It's a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out, but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you'll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh's home. Each location has an an extended index entry plus coordinates so you can find it on the maps. Illuminating essays accompanying the maps give a great insight into the stories behind the imaginary places, from Harry Potter's wizardry to Stone Age Bedrock in the Flintstones. A stunning map collection of invented geography and topography drawn from the world's imagination. Fascinating and beautiful, this is an essential book for any popular culture fan and map enthusiast.

Blue Highways

Blue Highways
Author: William Least Heat-Moon
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2012-04-03
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 0316218545

Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blue Highways is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads. William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about "those little towns that get on the map -- if they get on at all -- only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill: Remote, Oregon; Simplicity, Virginia; New Freedom, Pennsylvania; New Hope, Tennessee; Why, Arizona; Whynot, Mississippi." His adventures, his discoveries, and his recollections of the extraordinary people he encountered along the way amount to a revelation of the true American experience.

A London Year

A London Year
Author: Travis Elborough
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Adult
Total Pages: 609
Release: 2013-10-03
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1781311447

DIVA London Year is an anthology of short diary entries, one or more for each day of the year, which, taken together, provides an impressionistic portrait of life in the city from Tudor times to the twenty-first century. This ebook edition, with its own distinct cover, has been optimised for the digital reader. A hyperlinked contents page makes it easy for the reader to dip in and out of the book while each 'page' is dedicated to a separate day. To further improve formatting, the illustrations from the printed edition have been omitted. We promise this does not detract from the reading experience. This ebook serves as the perfect accompaniment to the print edition. There are more than two hundred featured writers, with a short biography for each. The most famous diarist of all - Samuel Pepys - is there, as well as some of today’s finest diarists like Alan Bennett and Chris Mullin. There are coronations and executions, election riots and zeppelin raids, duels, dust-ups and drunken sprees, among everyday moments like Brian Eno cycling in Kilburn or George Eliot walking on Wimbledon Common. Vividly evoking moments in the lives of Londoners in the past, providing snapshots of the city’s inhabitants at work, at play, in pursuit of money, sex, entertainment, pleasure and power, the ebook of A London Year is the perfect read for all who live in or love this eternal, ever-changing city./div

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas
Author: David Mitchell
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Total Pages: 596
Release: 2010-07-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307373576

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A timeless, structure-bending classic that explores how actions of individual lives impact the past, present and future—from a postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in fiction One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. The novel careens, with dazzling virtuosity, to Belgium in 1931, to the West Coast in the 1970s, to an inglorious present-day England, to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok, and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history. But the story doesn’t end even there. The novel boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, David Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky. As wild as a video game, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.