The Hidden Order, A Journey of
Exploration Along the Prime Meridian |
De verborgen ordening, Een ontdekkingsreis langs de nulmeridiaan
Alfred van Cleef
‘There was no way back, I was a middle-aged man with a backpack and an
invisible line to hold on to.’
The Hidden Order is a fascinating account of Alfred van Cleef’s travels along the
Prime Meridian (zero degrees longitude), the invisible line connecting the
North Pole with the South Pole which billions of people use every day to
determine time or location. Alfred van Cleef wanted to follow the Prime
Meridian over land. On a cloudy summer’s day he sets off on his own from
Tunstall, England, and using a GPS device to guide him, eventually reaches the
port of Tema in Ghana.
Using all types of vehicles, van Cleef encounters a rich variety of terrain:
mountains, rivers and deserts, as well as cemeteries and industrial areas. Along
the way he meets bandits and Al-Qaeda cells, mushroom hunters,
entrepreneurs, nomads, mayors, rainmakers, kings and fetish priests. Exploring
cultures and places, he weaves together different worlds – worlds that are linked to the hidden order that
always provides man with a location in time and space.
Van Cleef’s intrepid journey is intertwined with the history of the Greenwich Meridian and its geographical and
philosophical meaning, which is also the story of how we calculate time and date. Above all, The Hidden Order
is a penetrating, thrilling and funny account of an extraordinary voyage through 21st century Europe and Africa:
an open world along an invisible line.
The press about Alfred van Cleef:
'The Lost Island is a moving story, funny and endearing at times, immensely sad and disturbing at others' - Economist.com
'Van Cleef’s descriptions of the island are clever, but the real fun is the subtle ways in which he uses his dry sense of humor to lampoon French bureaucrats' - Publishers Weekly
'As sere and scoured as its locale, hard-fought and cleansing for author and reader alike, making for a companionable excursion into forlornness' - Kirkus Reviews
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