In April, Alastair Bonnett tried to reach a new volcanic island in Tonga when a cyclone intervened. His work uncovering new islands as well as hidden enclaves, utopian societies and even rumored or magical places fills his new book “Beyond the Map” (University of Chicago Press). A professor of social geography at Newcastle University in England, Mr. Bonnett crosses cultural and psychic cartography with the literal kind.

“I want to rediscover the world around me as unique and enchanting,” he said. The book’s discoveries chart shifts in geology, climate, politics and culture with an optimistic sense of wanderlust. The following are edited excerpts from an interview with Mr. Bonnett.

Why are new places emerging, especially in the Arctic, and how discernible are they?

A lot of the Arctic Circle was pushed down by miles of ice many tens of thousands of years ago. Much of that ice is gone and going quite rapidly, so the land is bouncing back and we’re finding new islands emerge in Alaska, Canada, Russia, Europe. They have so many new islands coming up that there are land disputes arising over whose island is this. There are accounts of people in Alaska in a lifetime being able to say this land has now extended a whole couple of acres out to the sea. The world is tilting in terms of its habitability. A lot of the tropics are becoming less habitable and submerged under the sea and the very far north is producing more habitable space.

You describe language enclaves as a kind of island. How are the Ladin Valleys unique from Italy?

When you get high in northern Italy, you come to an area which is a language kaleidoscope. Ladin is the survival of the ancient Latin tongue. Because the valleys are so steep and because there’s been little communication or few roads for so many years these languages have survived in confusing profusion. Once you start paying attention to those types of distinctions then the area becomes so much more culturally rich. Despite the tourist ski resorts, which can seem homogenizing, you can have a skiing holiday that’s about exposure to languages.