Off The Map

Well, it took me longer to shelve the countries than it will to review...
This was a great drop-in-drop-out book - the way I used it was for a half hour here and a half hour there.
There are forty seven short stories in this book, divided into eight themes sections. They average about six pages each, so very manageable.

Of the forty seven stories, there were probably 10 great stories, another fifteen good ones, and at the other end, probably 10 that were terrible. That leaves a dozen that were readable without being much more. On that basis it is more hit than miss, and tracks around three stars for me.

My expectations going in were quirks in geography, hidden corners, border anomalies and probably some off-the-grid type military or political enclaves. These were present, and probably formed the more enjoyable part of my reading, along with a few other unusual chapters. The chapters that didn't really resonate with me were the more ephemeral or theoretical ones - where geography and history slip into sociology and psychology. This is of course purely personal preference, but that's the way it fell to me. I think fewer locations, better selected and in a little more depth would have suited me.

Particular highlights, off the top of my head - the underground cities of Cappadocia, North Sentinal Island, the land border section (India/Bangladesh; Sudan/Egypt; El Salvador/Honduras; and some of the floating islands and enclaves.

Worth a read, but probably I would struggle to sit down and read it cover to cover.