Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World

by Maxim Samson

Our world has innumerable boundaries, ranging from the obvious - like an ocean - to subtle differences in language or climate. Most of us cross invisible lines all the time, but don't stop to consider them. In Invisible Lines, geographer Maxim Samson presents 30 such unseen boundaries, intriguing and unexpected examples of the myriad ways in which we collectively engage with and experience the world. From football fans in Buenos Aires to air quality in China, Paris' banlieues to sub-Saharan Africa's Malaria Belt, the existence - or perceived existence - of dividing lines has manifold implications for people, wildlife, and places. Fully illustrated with maps of each location, Invisible Lines reveals the extraordinary ways in which we try to render the planet more liveable and legible; a compelling guide to seeing and understanding our world in all its consistency - and all its messiness, too.

Genres: Nonfiction, Geography, Politics, History

404 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2023

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was both very insightful and satisfying, and irritatingly dull at the same time.

It goes over probably 15 or so different global examples of borders, lines, zones, etc, such as the Chernobyl zone, the international date line, the tree line, an island in India that has an untouched civilization, etc. some examples were extremely boring, and there are way too many facts and historical retelling without enough insight, but other parts were quite interesting. There is no persuasive cohesive point behind the book, and overall the takeaway is that our world constructs lots of different lines, both based on environment, geography, etc but also made in the mind and difficult to destroy (such as divides in dialect or religion). It just read as a collection of articles, some of which are more interesting than others.

I did learn a lot about random things from this book so I’d say it’s worth a read

[David Sabater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una atractiva colección de 30 curiosidades geográficas, geopolíticas y urbanísticas que el autor agrupa bajo el paraguas de las "fronteras invisibles". Como en cualquier recopilación de este tipo, hay miniaturas más y menos interesantes, pero el resultado final es notable. Una grata sorpresa, pese a su feísima portada, más propia de un libro de texto de colegio que de una buena edición (tirón de orejas para Crítica en este aspecto).

[Montecristo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante ed eterogenea lettura che parte da un concetto astratto per parlare di una miriade di diversi argomenti. Ovviamente si va poco in profondità, ma è un libro che può offrire diversi spunti per approfondimenti.

[Margaret Fast · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Unusual book. Part history. Part geography. Part philosophy. With the notion of lines, borders, boundaries holding it loosely together. Many interesting facts and factoids.

[Josu Garcia Artaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muchas interesantes líneas que no conocemos, que no sabemos dónde poner, pero que sabemos instintivamente que hemos cruzado cuando lo hacemos.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uit Invisible Lines heb ik het één en ander geleerd. Dat mag ook wel, want het boek bestaat uit een dertigtal besprekingen van grenzen. Deze zijn niet allemaal even geslaagd: naar mijn aanvoelen zijn de eerste beter dan de laatste.

Soms komt Samsons proza wel erg geforceerd over - niet in het minst als hij aan het einde van een stukje de brug probeert te slaan naar de volgende grens. Zeker in een boek als dit is er niets mis met een scherpere afbakening van de hoofdstukken!

[Tamara]

I stopped reading this. It was okay, but I've always found that books about geography are a bit like so many books about history - a fascinating subject, but so hard to find good books about it. They're either written too dryly and are boring, or they're infected by socio-political views and preaching. This one is a bit of both, although the author does it very nicely.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book with some very interesting parts & some rather boring parts. It covered 30 instances of invisible lines in the world. Like a book of short stories, some parts were better than others.

[Benj · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of essays on the theme of geographical lines and boundaries; some more interesting than others, some cleverer than others. I enjoyed it.

[Steven Beningo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent geography book, examining a wide variety of demarcations.

[Heather King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and relevant insight into the world as it exists today - we should definitely be paying more attention to those lines that we can't see! I learned a lot from this book.