Books by Alastair Bonnett

Alastair Bonnett, 2014

Published in the UK as Off the Map. In a world of Google Earth, in which it is easy to believe that every discovery has been made and every adventure already had, Unruly Places is testament to how mysterious our planet still is. From forgotten enclaves to floating islands, from hidden villages to New York gutter spaces, Unruly Places charts the hidden corners of our planet. And while these are not necessarily places you would choose to visit on holiday - Hobyo, the pirate capital of Somalia, or Zheleznogorsk, a secret military town in Russia - they each carry a story about the strangeness of place and our need for a geography that understands our hunger for the fantastic and the unexpected.

Alastair Bonnett, 2018

New islands are under construction or emerging because of climate change. Eccentric enclaves and fantastic utopian experiments are multiplying. Once-secret fantasy gardens are cracking open their doors to outsiders. I present stories of the world's most extraordinary spaces (many unmarked on any official map) all of which challenge our assumptions about what we know (or think we know) about our world. It is a world of hidden cultures and ghostly memories of uncountable new islands and curious stabs at paradise. From the phantom tunnels of the Tokyo subway to a stunning movie-set re-creation of 1950s-era Moscow; from the caliphate of the Islamic State to virtual cybertopias, Beyond the Map is a guide to the farthest fringes of geography.

Alastair Bonnett, 2020

Published in the UK as The Age of Islands: In Search of New and Disappearing Islands. Something very peculiar is happening to islands. At the same time as they are disappearing because of sea-level rise, new ones are popping up. New islands are being designed and sculptured in fancy, outlandish shapes off numerous shores. I travelled the planet to find them. In China, Panama, and UEA I found extraordinary new maritime exclaves for the wealthy. I also found new islands being built as dumping grounds: repositories for the things we don’t want onshore, like airports and toxic waste. You can also read about my adventures trying to get to a new volcanic island in Tonga. It didn’t go well! I draw up maps of all these places, as well as some of the islands that are still on the drawing board and will be sprouting out of the sea over the coming decades.