Urban Exploration

99% Invisible is a big-ideas podcast about small-seeming things, revealing stories baked into the buildings we inhabit, the streets we drive, and the sidewalks we traverse. The show celebrates design and architecture in all of its functional glory and accidental absurdity, with intriguing tales of both designers and the people impacted by their designs.

Some buildings are not just empty. They are filled with the echoes of the past. This gripping work of narrative nonfiction unlocks the gates to the world's most infamous institutions, from the sprawling grounds of Waverly Hills to the brutalist fortress of Volterra in Italy. Go beyond the legends and walk the decaying corridors where the forgotten were left to suffer. This is not just a collection of ghost stories; it is a profound and moving exploration of the real human tragedies that transpired within these walls. Through meticulous research, this book uncovers the harrowing history of ...

K.T. Tomb introduces three new heroines: bounty hunters Roberta, Riley, and Ricki Vaughan. All sisters. And all tough as nails. When a new client hires the streetwise Vaughan sisters to find and recover a stolen diamond that’s worth millions, the recovery fee alone could save their struggling business. However, their new client refuses to call the police, so the sisters have to keep this case on the down low. And when the prime suspect turns up dead, things really start to heat up in the Deep South. When an unexpected event threatens more than the recovery of the one-of-a-kind gem, all ...

Discover a world beyond the ordinary with Hidden Gems, your ultimate guide to the most enchanting and overlooked destinations across the globe. This captivating eBook invites you on a journey to explore the world’s forgotten corners, dotted with untold stories and enigmatic beauty. Begin your adventure by delving into the allure of abandoned places, from forgotten cities steeped in history to the ghost towns of the Wild West. Urban exploration reveals hidden facets of cities once bustling with life, now abandoned to time. The book then whisks you away to enigmatic island escapes, where ...

What if your next great adventure didn’t require a passport — just a fresh pair of eyes? Micro-Adventures by Zeamie Emanuel is an inspiring guide that shows you how to experience the thrill of travel right in your own city. With a blend of practical tips and creative prompts, this book invites you to uncover hidden gems, explore cultural treasures, and reconnect with a sense of wonder — no flights or long vacations needed. Whether you're wandering side streets, discovering secret rooftop gardens, or chasing murals across town, you'll learn how to turn everyday life into an ongoing ...

Some places are abandoned for a reason. For fifteen years, maintenance man Daniel Rourke has kept the dying Briarwood Mall from falling apart. Now, just five days before the wrecking ball swings, his estranged teenage daughter breaks in to film a viral video. Daniel unlocks the doors to get her out, but what they find waiting in the dark, silent concourse is a nightmare. Bred in the dark and fed by toxic runoff, a massive colony of mutated, highly organized spiders has claimed the mall's substructure. They don't just hunt—they strategize, build traps, and herd their prey. Cut off from the...

Most books about Barcelona tell you where to find the best view of the Sagrada Família. This one gives you the story behind what you’re seeing. Backstory Atlas Barcelona: 10 Reasons We Can’t Stop Visiting The Mediterranean Rebel – A Guide to Its Travel History is a short, curated read that makes travel richer. It explores how a Roman trading port became one of Europe’s most magnetic destination cities — and why Barcelona still feels so shaped by civic pride, visual boldness, resistance, and reinvention. This is not a guidebook or a long, heavy history lesson. It is a short, ...

Liminal Spaces: Thresholds, Crossings, and Places In Between A Literary Exploration of Architecture, Folklore, and the Psychology of In-Between Places There are places where the world quietly shifts: rooms left waiting, stairwells thick with shadow, gardens overtaken by wildness, and forgotten doorways sealed by time. These are thresholds where certainty falters and possibility stirs; where we pause between departure and arrival, memory and forgetting, safety and the unknown. Liminal Spaces explores the architecture of transition through five richly illustrated chapters examining attics and...

Beneath the Pavement: Uncovering the Layered Ghost Cities of the World is a long, detailed, and politically neutral exploration of the hidden urban worlds lying directly under our feet. This work challenges the myth that ancient ruins simply sink over time, revealing instead the fascinating reality of urban stratification history—the process by which humans systematically build new civilizations atop the rubble of the old. From the "layer cake" of Troy’s ten distinct cities to the 18-meter vertical timeline of Rome’s Basilica of San Clemente, the narrative illustrates how history is ...

Something Big Lurks Beneath the Surface Mara Kincaid tracks ghosts through the water. As a sonar specialist, her job is to find what hides in the pitch-black silence of the southern ocean. When the research vessel Valkyrie reaches the edge of a frozen trench, she hears a signal that shouldn't exist. It isn't a whale. It isn't a submarine. Something massive is rising through the ice. Trapped in a polar storm and cut off from the world, the crew realizes they are no longer the observers. They are the prey. Beneath the crushing pressure of the shelf, a leviathan from modern folklore has ...

A chilling novel about our modern world, from the author of Empire of the Sun and Crash. An architect is driving home from his London offices when a blow-out sends his speeding Jaguar hurtling out of control. Smashing through a temporary barrier he finds himself, dazed and disorientated, on a traffic island below three converging motorways. But when he tries to climb the embankment or flag-down a passing car for help it proves impossible - and he finds himself marooned on the concrete island.

91 year-old Alice Hoffman died alone in her top floor flat. Social services say she slipped through the cracks in a failing system. But detectives Arthur Bryant & John May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit have their suspicions. Mrs Hoffman was not as innocent as she appeared. A former government...

Most books about London tell you where to stand for the best view of Big Ben. This one gives you the story behind what you’re seeing. Backstory Atlas London: 10 Reasons We Can’t Stop Visiting The City that Wrote the Rules – A Guide to Its Travel History is a short, curated read that makes travel richer. It explores how a Roman river crossing became one of the world’s great destination cities — and why London still feels so layered, theatrical, and familiar today. It's not a guidebook or a long, academic history. It is an accessible book for travelers who want the story behind what...

The jungle kept its secrets. It always had. But some secrets refuse to stay buried. When a scientific expedition vanishes without a trace in the uncharted depths of the Javari Valley, elite recovery specialist Dylan Hale gets the call. The mission is simple: get in, find the researchers, and get out. But the deep rainforest is hiding more than missing scientists. Deep within a pre-Columbian ruin built not for worship, but for containment, an apex predator has awakened. Engineered for slaughter and equipped with active camouflage that makes it practically invisible in the canopy, it doesn't ...

Most books about Athens tell you where to get the best view of the Acropolis. This one gives you the story behind what you’re seeing. Backstory Atlas Athens: 10 Reasons We Can’t Stop Visiting The Ancient Argument – A Guide to Its Travel History is a short, curated read that makes travel richer. It explores how a city with no great river, no easy geography, and no obvious path to global importance became one of the most influential destinations in human history. This is not a guidebook or a long, heavy history lesson. It is a short, curated read for travelers who want to know the story...

Mikey is a Romany Gypsy and grew up living in a caravan on sites across the UK. He adored his family and the rich and vibrant Romany culture he'd inherited. Eventually though he was forced to make a heartbreaking decision - to stay and keep secrets, or escape and find somewhere to finally belong...

As the nation's oldest serving detectives, we know more about London than almost anyone. After all, we've been walking its streets and impulsively arresting its citizens for decades. Who better to take you through its less savoury side? We'll be chatting about odd buildings, odder characters...

Laura and Tyler are best friends who live together, angrily philosophising and leading each other astray in the pubs and flats of Manchester. But things are set to change. Laura is engaged to teetotal Jim, the wedding is just months away, and Tyler becomes hell-bent on sabotaging her friend's...

Cal Rainer is desperate. Suspended from his job as a home inspector and drowning in debt, he accepts an off-the-books cash gig to evaluate the decaying, condemned Greystone Apartments. It is supposed to be a quick, easy payday. Just get in, check the foundation, and get out. But the Greystone isn’t empty. Deep in the subterranean darkness beneath the building, something has been hunting. Something ancient, massive, and fiercely protective of its growing nest. As Cal crawls deeper into the tight, claustrophobic maze of dirt and rotting wood, his exit is abruptly blocked. Armed with only a ...

The death of a child and what seems to be a murderous puppet make a perfect case for Bryant and May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit. As John May and his team interrogate the suspects, Arthur Bryant heads into the secret world of illusions and stagecraft. As a second impossible death occurs, the...