Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-234).

Maps and legends -- State of the union -- Driver's education -- History's greatest monster -- The starting lineup -- The four corners offense -- What God has put asunder -- Time of the season -- Just lines on paper -- Bricks and mortar -- Rock and a hard place -- Parts is parts -- Names will never hurt me -- Rite of passage -- The undiscovered country -- We're not lost -- Epilogue : I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.

After years of crossing borders to see new birds and new landscapes, Peter Cashwell's exploration of lines between states, between time zones, and between species led him to consider the lines that divide genders, seasons, musical genres, and just about every other aspect of human life. His conclusion: most had something in common--they were largely imaginary. Nonetheless, this tour of the tangled world of delineation attempts to address how we distinguish right from wrong, life from death, Democrat from Republican--and how the lines between came to be. Part storyteller, part educator, and part smartass, Cashwell is unafraid to take readers off the beaten path--to the desert vistas of the Four Corners, a quiet breakfast among the redwoods, or a pumping station in Cleveland: something amusing and/or educational awaits at every stop. And he's not alone: the tricks and treats of the human instinct for drawing lines are revealed in interviews with experts of all sorts. Learn about the use of the panel border from a Hugo Award-winning comics creator. Trace the edge of extinction with the rediscoverer of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Get the truth about the strike zone from an umpire with a physics degree. Provided by publisher.