Publishers Weekly
"Ranging from downright funny to deadly serious, each chapter in this guide from social geography professor Bonnett takes the reader on a journey to an unusual location. . . . By turns delightful and sobering, this book, like the best travel, inspires both the mind and the imagination."

Booklist
“These essays about islands that appear and disappear with the tides, guerrilla gardeners planting on traffic circles, and clothing malfunctions in Second Life are entertaining as well as thought provoking. . . . Having visited most of the places, the author is lively and personally engaging, making this a recommended collection for public libraries.”

Alberto Manguel, coauthor of The Dictionary of Imaginary Places
“Beyond the Map is in fact very much a map of our existing world or, better still, of our imagination of the world. Places we never knew were there, places that are there because we’ve dreamt them up so forcefully, places that were there and then vanished into oblivion are all beautifully described in this witty, erudite, original volume that deserves a place between Mandeville’s Travels and Umberto Eco’s Book of Imaginary Lands.”

Prospect
"Full of rich, strange anecdote, Beyond the Map skips restlessly around the globe, from the islands emerging out of the Gulf of Bothnia, to trap streets. Along the way Bonnett poses challenging, often uncomfortable, questions about the roles that power, money and identity have come to play in negotiating—or, just as often, dictating—our sense of place...This fine book is an expert, engaged guide to how one might begin to start mapping these often perplexing processes."

Bradley Garrett, coauthor of Global Undergrounds: Exploring Cities Within
“At a time when many of us imagine the world as known, measured, bounded, and recorded, Bonnett gives us the gift we most desire—the ability to be surprised again. Beyond the Map takes us on woozy romp through some of the kookiest, eeriest, and most impossible places on Earth, under the sea, and in cyberspace. In challenging us to imagine and explore the great unknown still out there, Bonnett has, once again, made geography sexy.”

Geographical
"Whether exploring modern legends that suggest that commuters go missing in Tokyo’s enormous Shinjuku train station, or chronicling humanity’s search for utopias in cyberspace and perpetual mobility, Bonnett has an eye for the fascinating corners of his subject, not all of which are remote and inaccessible. . . . . There’s much to enjoy here; and a useful warning, too—if one is needed—as to the inadvisability of combining red wine with late-night online shopping."

Geoff Manaugh, author of A Burglar’s Guide to the City
“Fans of Bonnett’s earlier work, followers of Atlas Obscura, and academic geographers in search of a fun read will no doubt find this book essential.”

Engineering & Technology
"An engrossing look at geographical eccentricities that will be revealing for even seasoned armchair travellers."