About this item
Book Description A fascinating exploration of human navigation, both feat and foible, in the age of GPS and GoogleEarth. We live in a world crowded by street signs and arrows. With the click of a computer mouse we can find exact directions to just about anywhere on earth, and with a handheld GPS we can find our precise latitude and longitude, even in the remotest of places. But despite all our advancements, we still get lost in the mall, can’t follow directions to a friend’s house and, on camping expeditions, take wrong turns that can mean the difference between life and death. Many other species, however, have an innate sense of direction. Ants display surprisingly sophisticated behavior, traveling great distances without wasting a step.
About the Author
Colin Ellard was born in London, England--one of the psychogeographic centers of the Universe--but soon moved to Toronto, Canada--a lovely grid city but with no end of interesting nooks and crannies for a resident to get lost in. Ellard is now a psychologist at the University of Waterloo and the director of its Urban Realities Laboratory where he conducts experiments related to his interests in the psychological aspects of architectural and urban design.
