Inner Navigation: Why We Get Lost and How We Find Our Way

Jonsson, Erik

ISBN 10: 1416575146 / ISBN 13: 9781416575146

Published by Scribner, 2007

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9781416575146

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Inner Navigation: Why We Get Lost and How We Find Our Way
• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1416575146
• ISBN 13: 9781416575146
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

A FASCINATING INVESTIGATION OF HOW WE NAVIGATE THE PHYSICAL WORLD, INNER NAVIGATION IS A LIVELY, ENGAGING ACCOUNT OF SUBCONSCIOUS MAPMAKING.

Why are we so often disoriented when we come up from the subway?

Do we really walk in circles when we lose our bearings in the wilderness?

How -- and why -- do we get lost at all?

In this surprising, stimulating book, Erik Jonsson, a Swedish-born engineer who has spent a lifetime exploring navigation over every terrain, from the crowded cities of Europe to the emptiness of the desert, gives readers extraordinary new insights into the human way-finding system.

Written for the nonscientist, Inner Navigation explains the astonishing array of physical and psychological cues the brain uses to situate us in space and build its "cognitive maps" -- the subconscious maps it employs to organize landmarks. Humans, Jonsson explains, also possess an intuitive direction frame -- an internal compass -- that keeps these maps oriented (when it functions properly) and a dead-reckoning system that constantly updates our location on the map as we move through the world. Even the most cynical city-dweller will be amazed to learn how much of this innate sense we use every day as we travel across town or around the world.

Both a scientific and a human story, Inner Navigation contains a rich assortment of real-life insights and examples of the navigational challenges we all face, no matter where or how we live. It's a book that is as provocative to ponder as it is delightful to lose yourself in. Don't worry: Erik Jonsson will help you find your bearings.

About the Author

Born in Sweden in 1922, Erik Jonsson grew up using the forest as his navigation school. He moved with his family to California in 1969. He lives in San Diego, California.