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The Bridge Between Worlds: A Brief History of Connection
In The Bridge Between Worlds, Gavin Francis explores bridges old and new, man-made or natural, musing on the view from the bridge through history, geopolitics, psychology and literature. Against the ever-growing obsession with national borders in politics and the media, bridges - whether seen as functional, emblematic or aesthetical - both unite and divide us.
From Ponte Sant'Angelo to Brooklyn Bridge, from Victoria Falls Bridge to Tavanasa Bridge, The Bridge Between Worlds reflects on the bridges between nations and individuals, how they act as frontiers and reflects on the lives of people either side of the border.
From Ponte Sant'Angelo to Brooklyn Bridge, from Victoria Falls Bridge to Tavanasa Bridge, The Bridge Between Worlds reflects on the bridges between nations and individuals, how they act as frontiers and reflects on the lives of people either side of the border.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published May 6, 2025
6 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Gavin Francis
18 books139 followersGavin Francis was born in Scotland in 1975, and has travelled widely on all seven continents. He has crossed Eurasia by motorcycle, and spent a year in Antarctica. He works as a medical doctor as well as a writer.
When travelling he is most interested in the way that places shapes the lives and stories of the people who live in them.
His first book, True North: Travels in Arctic Europe, explores the history of Europe's expansion northwards from the first Greek explorers to the Polar expeditions of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was nominated for a William Mills Prize for Polar Books. Of it Robert Macfarlane wrote: 'a seriously accomplished first book, by a versatile and interesting writer... it is set apart by the elegance and grace of its prose, and by its abiding interest in landscapes of the mind. Francis explores not only the terrain of the far North, but also the ways in which the North has been imagined... a dense and unusual book.'
In 2011 he received a Creative Scotland Writer's Award towards the completion of a book about the year he spent living beside a colony of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. Empire Antarctica will be published by Chatto & Windus in November 2012.
When travelling he is most interested in the way that places shapes the lives and stories of the people who live in them.
His first book, True North: Travels in Arctic Europe, explores the history of Europe's expansion northwards from the first Greek explorers to the Polar expeditions of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was nominated for a William Mills Prize for Polar Books. Of it Robert Macfarlane wrote: 'a seriously accomplished first book, by a versatile and interesting writer... it is set apart by the elegance and grace of its prose, and by its abiding interest in landscapes of the mind. Francis explores not only the terrain of the far North, but also the ways in which the North has been imagined... a dense and unusual book.'
In 2011 he received a Creative Scotland Writer's Award towards the completion of a book about the year he spent living beside a colony of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. Empire Antarctica will be published by Chatto & Windus in November 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 21, 2025
I went into this book hoping for some kind of nerd-fest about bridges, how they were made and maintained and a history of events that have taken place on them, I got that and so much more. Francis blends the history and technical stuff with his memoirs and opinions and most fascinating of all he shows the reader what a bridge means to the people…before this book it was just a shortcut from A to B and I had never sat down and truly considered a bridge and it’s purpose.
I have heard of a lot of the bridges included but with the exception of the Forth Road Bridge I knew nothing about them, in some cases I didn’t even know what they looked liked, luckily this book is crammed with pictures for a reader such as me. The book starts off looking into what a bridge is, this covers the big ones all the way down to the arch of a human’s foot. Then the book is split into period’s of Francis’s life where he has travelled and witnessed a bridge and a fair amount of travelling he has done, I found it interesting that from a young age he has had a love of bridges and subconsciously been collecting material for this book (there must be some kind of bridge metaphor there).
The writing is engaging, covering a huge amount of topics when discussing each bridge, from art, politics, geography, architecture, war, community, language and history it is a very good blend of information to keep the reader invested until the end. A couple of mentions that pleased me was the Living Root Trees in India and the stunning bridges across the water linking Scandinavia to each of the member countries, out of all the bridges in the world, these are the ones I’d most like to see. Finally Francis discusses a lack of bridges that are becoming common place thanks to events like Brexit, I never realised how badly the UK was isolating itself with the stopping of ferry services, certainly a grim future for us.
This was a very informative book, one that has made me stop and think and pop onto google to explore further what I had just learnt. This is one of those books that deserves to become a TV series, documentary in this case. Recommended reading.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2025...
I have heard of a lot of the bridges included but with the exception of the Forth Road Bridge I knew nothing about them, in some cases I didn’t even know what they looked liked, luckily this book is crammed with pictures for a reader such as me. The book starts off looking into what a bridge is, this covers the big ones all the way down to the arch of a human’s foot. Then the book is split into period’s of Francis’s life where he has travelled and witnessed a bridge and a fair amount of travelling he has done, I found it interesting that from a young age he has had a love of bridges and subconsciously been collecting material for this book (there must be some kind of bridge metaphor there).
The writing is engaging, covering a huge amount of topics when discussing each bridge, from art, politics, geography, architecture, war, community, language and history it is a very good blend of information to keep the reader invested until the end. A couple of mentions that pleased me was the Living Root Trees in India and the stunning bridges across the water linking Scandinavia to each of the member countries, out of all the bridges in the world, these are the ones I’d most like to see. Finally Francis discusses a lack of bridges that are becoming common place thanks to events like Brexit, I never realised how badly the UK was isolating itself with the stopping of ferry services, certainly a grim future for us.
This was a very informative book, one that has made me stop and think and pop onto google to explore further what I had just learnt. This is one of those books that deserves to become a TV series, documentary in this case. Recommended reading.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2025...
June 4, 2025
Bridges AND the history’s behind them? 10/10.
June 25, 2025
Not for me, I just felt it fell between many stools, a bit of history, a bit of travel writing and a memoir. Nice pictures though
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews