GEORGE R MITCHELL was born in Aberdeen and currently writes narrative travel columns for DC Thomson publishers. He doesn't do tourism - he travels what he calls 'off-grid', getting under the skin of a country, its culture and its people. To date he has travelled extensively in around 80 countries. His most annoyingly wonderful, frustrating and fascinating country to be in, is Russia.

Mankind's Great Divides is his first non-fiction book.