Invisible Lines

'An illuminating glimpse of the chain reactions of human and physical geography.' Financial Times
'A truly original adventure into new ways of exploring what we mean by a sense of place.' Simon Jenkins
'A fascinating exploration of the lesser-known and more subtle borders across the earth and the surprising ways in which they shape our lives.' i news
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.

Maxim Samson is a geographer and the author of Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World. An award-winning educator and researcher, he has taught and presented keynote lectures at universities in the United Kingdom, the United States and Indonesia. In addition to working as an adjunct professor at DePaul University in Chicago, he serves as Immediate Past Chair of the American Association of Geographers' Religions and Belief Systems research specialty group and associate editor of the Journal of Jewish Education. In his free time, he enjoys long-distance running and exploring the culture and language of his favourite country, Indonesia.