The Un-Discovered Islands: An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes

Glaswegian writer Tallack (Sixty Degrees North) muses on the human desire to “make-believe” in this delightful atlas of islands, some of which no longer exist and many of which never did. He tours phantom isles, forgotten spits, and outcrops known only through time and tale. “Their stories are so distant, and so infused with the imaginary, that they exist today only in name,” Tallack writes. The book tours Plato’s sunken island of Atlantis; an island near Britain known only from the travelogue of Greek explorer Pytheas around 330 B.C.E.; the island of Javasu, concocted by 19th-century huckster Mary Willcocks as exotic homeland of Princess Caraboo; and many other made-up islands throughout time. Tallack untwists their histories by asking questions such as, how did the islands came to be? When did cartographers erase them? Who named them? He explores the islands in seven chapters dedicated to, among other topics, “Islands of Life and Death” (supernatural regions in myth that divide the dead from the living), and “Recent Un-Discoveries,” which brings his discoveries into the 21st century, when technological advances in archeology expose the bald-faced lies of the past. Coupled with Scott’s colorful illustrations, this book will delight armchair travelers and readers of Atlas Obscura. Color illus. [em](Nov.) [/em]