Falling Off The Map Summary

The book “Falling Off the Map” by Pico Iyer explores the eccentricities of “less traveled” places, revealing their hidden treasures and cultural wealth, but focusing on their lack of intellectual development and world involvement. Pico Iyer is known for describing his travels to unusual places and publishing his discoveries around the less-known world. In this book, Iyer describes his travels to eight countries: North Korea, Argentina, Bhutan, Vietnam, Cuba, Paraguay, Australia, and Iceland. Each chapter is an essay about a single country in which Iyer describes his opinion and experiences, as well as the culture and traditions, of each individual country. As an introduction, though, Iyer begins his book by explaining the meaning of loneliness, …show more content…
As previously mentioned, Iyer believes the isolation of these eight countries are intellectual rather than geographical, in most cases. The lack of intellectual and evolutionary development of these countries is what makes them “lonely places”. North Korea and Cuba’s communist governments entrap their own people in a small world. Some of them wanting to leave their home to become better, are being held tightly by a government who doesn’t want them becoming any smarter than what is convenient and beneficial to them. To communist governments such as Cuba’s, it is more important to seem well to the outside world by promoting tourism, than taking care of their own people who are dying of hunger in the streets. And to communist governments such as North Korea’s, it is better to isolate themselves from the world so their people remain close-minded and therefore loyal to their leader. This principal characteristic of the two countries mentioned is what, in Iyer’s opinion, isolates a country. Through detailed description of personal experiences, Iyer is able to explain the countries’ lack of intellect and …show more content…
For this case, Iyer’s experiences in Australia, Iceland, and Bhutan are most fitting. Beginning with the “chilly, ghostly streets” of Iceland during summer, an ever-uninviting feature, Iyer makes the point that not only is it unpleasant to visit this country, but the geographic location of Iceland is totally inconvenient to squeeze into any planned trip. The outstanding and vivid description of Iyer’s Iceland is reason enough why this country would make the list of unusual places. Adding to this list is Bhutan, an even more random lonely place to visit. Most people are unaware of Bhutan’s existence, perhaps because of its location, or simply because it has never been involved with the outside world in any way. Iyer claims that this is yet another country frozen in time, one that is not evolving, nor will probably evolve any time soon. Finally, Iyer shines some light on the “strange” people of Australia. Many would ask “What’s wrong with Australia?” They are a well-developed country with a functioning monarchy, but Iyer would argue that its geographic location is unconventional to anyone, even Australians themselves. Being so far away from the major world leaders puts Australia in great disadvantage, hence its spot on the “less traveled” countries. Through Iyer’s experiences, which he describes in great detail, the reader