Author Derek Lundy rode the borders on a KLR, then wrote a book about America's obsession with security.

West coast writer Derek Lundy has written an account of his travels by KLR650 along two important borders, the Mexican, and the Canadian, from the U.S. side.

His book, "Borderlands," is more than a travelogue, however; it's an examination of the American obsession with border security following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Lundy, who turned 60 in a year when three of his good friends died in their 50s, felt the need to stretch himself, and so in the spring of 2007 he rode the long borders north of Mexico and south Canada, and wrote about the cultures he found there, which he says are shaped more by the borders than by the countries they exist in.

U.S. Homeland Security policies, he says, are making the borders more difficult and more time-consuming to cross, and the northern border is affected by a widespread but erroneous belief that Canada supplied terrorists for the 9/11 attacks. Lundy also provides sharply written historical accounts of events that helped shape borders and border attitudes — the Alamo, the Cypress Hills Massacre, and others.

Lundy, who lives on Salt Spring Island, has written several previous books, and Borderlands: Riding the edge of America, may be his most important. It's widely available, but for a quick look, see amazon.ca.