Our world's are spatially complex and yet we manage to navigate through our close environment and to find ways to navigate the unknown. here bond explores the cognitive science behind our ability to remember routes and recognise landmarks, explaining how these abilities have helped humans develop as a species. Also he looks at what happens when we lose this ability and the distress it causes. Whilst heavy on the science, this is also a very deep book which looks at fundamental basics of need ( )

Neurotransmitters in our brain help us with boundaries and our location in a space. That’s all well and good but how do we actually figure out where we are, where we are going, and what to do when we lose our way. In essence, humans are divided into groups; the egocentric who relate everything to their position, and the spatial who rely on the features of the landscape and how they relate to each other to tell them where they are. The author gives several examples of individuals who went for a hike, and lost their way, some with dire results. I spent a lot of time googling the harrowing stories behind the individuals named in the book. Bond’s warning to be prepared was so compelling, I went out and bought a mirror compass to go with the whistle, knife, and flint fire starter I always carry with me when out hiking, walking, or riding my horse. ( )

From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way is a fascinating exploration of how we learn to find our way as children and how we may risk unlearning it from lack of use thanks to GPS or from the damage of Alzheimer’s Disease. Through that arc of life, Bond explores the different ways we think about finding our way and what parts of the brain are likely to be involved.

I recently read “The Address Book” by Deirdre Mask. In it, Mask wrote about legible cities and the idea fascinated me, so when I learned of From Here to There, I just had to read it. It did not disappoint one little bit. It began by looking at how we wander and how the exploratory freedom has been whittled away over recent generations. This is a bit of a personal hobbyhorse and I feel sad for kids who don’t have the freedom to run about all over as I used to do.

Bond also explains how this all plays out in our heads. He is scrupulous in separating what is known from what is surmised and explains how scientists know what they know and why they think what they think.

He also writes about getting lost and how so much of being lost is the panic of realizing you don’t know where you are. It was illuminating for me. I have never felt lost. I have occasionally not know where I was but knew how to know without difficulty. He also writes about some of the extraordinary navigators and how they are so good at what they do. It boils down to two words, pay attention. He also talks about city design and how it can make a city legible (Paris) or not (London) and even how that applies to architecture and buildings such as the beautiful Seattle Library that is lovely to look at and notoriously difficult to navigate.

The final chapters focus on the losses of Alzheimer’s and how we might be undergoing our hippocampus now we have GPS. What are the implications there – and what might exercising our hippocampus do for us.

I really loved From Here to There a lot. It’s a fascinating subject and while I felt a bit in the weeds learning about the different cells and where they were hiding, even when it was the most technical, it was easy enough to understand. It would have been nice to have the illustrations right in place rather than having to flip back to look, but that’s just picking nits in an excellent book.

I love the way Bond writes about the wayfinding. You can tell he loves the topic and is passionate about it. I also love how he finds illustrations from real life to explain the concepts. He makes even the more abstracted information understandable and interesting. He has a way of bringing science back to the people and how it interacts with their lives.

I received a copy of From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way from the publisher for review.

From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way at Harvard University Press
Michael Bond author site

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