In Wayfinding, Michael Bond explores how our brains make the ‘cognitive maps’ that keep us orientated, even in places that we don’t know, by sharing stories of people who lose and find their way. He considers how we relate to places, and asks how our understanding of the world around us affects our psychology and behaviour.
Children are instinctive explorers, developing a spatial understanding as they roam. And yet today few of us make use of the wayfaring skills that we had as children, inherited from our nomadic ancestors. Most of us have little idea what we may be losing.
Bond seeks an answer to the question of why some of us are so much better at finding our way than others. He also tackles the controversial subject of sex differences in navigation, and finally tries to understand why being lost can be such a devastating psychological experience.
"If only this was a science book about how we navigate - Inuit methods, explorers' feats, extraordinary animal abilities, brain scans, men vs women - it would be compellingly good. However Michale Bond takes us further."
Sunday Times Books of the Year
