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Wayfinding: The Art and Science of How We Find and Lose Our Way
The physical world is infinitely complex, yet most of us are able to find our way around it. We can walk through unfamiliar streets while maintaining a sense of direction, take shortcuts along paths we have never used and remember for many years places we have visited only once. These are remarkable achievements.
In Wayfinding, Michael Bond explores how we do it: how our brains make the ‘cognitive maps’ that keep us orientated, even in places that we don’t know. He considers how we relate to places, and asks how our understanding of the world around us affects our psychology and behaviour.
The way we think about physical space has been crucial to our evolution: the ability to navigate over large distances in prehistoric times gave Homo sapiens an advantage over the rest of the human family. 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 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.
For readers of writers as different as Robert Macfarlane and Oliver Sacks, Wayfinding is a book that can change our sense of ourselves.
314 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2020
127 people are currently reading
2441 people want to read
About the author
Michael Shaw Bond
5 books15 followersMichael Bond has been writing on psychology and human behaviour for more than fifteen years as a regular contributor to New Scientist, Nature, Prospect, the Observer, the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, and others. During the Arab Spring, he also served as lead researcher for the Royal Society report on science in Egypt. He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
May 25, 2020
There have been a rush of books recently about navigation and the brain. Including, rather confusingly Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the WorldWayfinding, released about 18 months before this one. This is a great trend, and did mean I was already familiar with most of the substantial examples - many of which are taken from Indigenous Navigation - Inuit hunting techniques, Pasifika navigation, the Guggu Yumithir use of cardinal points in language - and others include the London Tube Map, the tragic case of Geraldine Largay who died on the Appalachian Trail and the pernicious effect of GPS on the brain. I was wary, in this sense, going in that this book would simply retread ground already covered, but Bond quickly disarmed me with a strong dive into explaining the neural mechanisms of our sense of place - grid cells and boundary neurons. Bond has a clear style of explanation and does not shy away from the harder science content.
Bond also tackles the question of gendered differences in navigation at more length than I had read elsewhere - he takes a firm 'too much social noise to identify biological difference ' line and his focus on the neuroscience also means much of the material looking at how our overall cognitions is affected by being lost and disoriented has been the most memorable for me. Bond's clear empathy with Alzheimer's sufferers, whose desire to 'wander' he argues is a way of managing an ever shifting sense of space, and sections on nursing home design could have been digressions but formed much of the heart of the book. This were enhanced by discussions about how different demographics deal with being lost - and the fact that we all tend to panic move, when we should stay still.
His sections comparing London (a city with landmarks so recognisable you always know where you are, but almost impossible to work out how to get elsewhere) to Manhatten (a city on a grid easy to theoretically how to move, but very hard to orient yourself in) and the subsequent different methods of street navigation were engrossing.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this as the first stop for those less interested in reading about neurons - Bond has not deeply consulted with Indigenous peoples in the book, and so this material is inevitably more light on compared with the aforementioned Wayfinding by MR O'Connor, and also Sea People: The Puzzle of PolynesiaSea Peoples, and he doesn't look beyond human cognition - Incredible Journeys: Exploring the Wonders of Animal Navigation covers both human and non-human systems, but I find myself strongly recommending all of this ouvre for understanding a little more what it is to be human in this world. In particular, I am struck by how we have redefined, as a Western society, intelligence in terms of what we need to develop, use, manage and explore technology. Elements of intelligence such as memory, navigation, observation and contextual problem solving are not well measured in IQ tests, and are generally understood to have declined in tech-heavy societies. Not only can this pose a racist lens to discussions about intelligence, but it might bode ill for our survival in case of a technology collapse - something much more palpable after a simple virus has stopped the world, that it might have seemed before.
Bond also tackles the question of gendered differences in navigation at more length than I had read elsewhere - he takes a firm 'too much social noise to identify biological difference ' line and his focus on the neuroscience also means much of the material looking at how our overall cognitions is affected by being lost and disoriented has been the most memorable for me. Bond's clear empathy with Alzheimer's sufferers, whose desire to 'wander' he argues is a way of managing an ever shifting sense of space, and sections on nursing home design could have been digressions but formed much of the heart of the book. This were enhanced by discussions about how different demographics deal with being lost - and the fact that we all tend to panic move, when we should stay still.
His sections comparing London (a city with landmarks so recognisable you always know where you are, but almost impossible to work out how to get elsewhere) to Manhatten (a city on a grid easy to theoretically how to move, but very hard to orient yourself in) and the subsequent different methods of street navigation were engrossing.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this as the first stop for those less interested in reading about neurons - Bond has not deeply consulted with Indigenous peoples in the book, and so this material is inevitably more light on compared with the aforementioned Wayfinding by MR O'Connor, and also Sea People: The Puzzle of PolynesiaSea Peoples, and he doesn't look beyond human cognition - Incredible Journeys: Exploring the Wonders of Animal Navigation covers both human and non-human systems, but I find myself strongly recommending all of this ouvre for understanding a little more what it is to be human in this world. In particular, I am struck by how we have redefined, as a Western society, intelligence in terms of what we need to develop, use, manage and explore technology. Elements of intelligence such as memory, navigation, observation and contextual problem solving are not well measured in IQ tests, and are generally understood to have declined in tech-heavy societies. Not only can this pose a racist lens to discussions about intelligence, but it might bode ill for our survival in case of a technology collapse - something much more palpable after a simple virus has stopped the world, that it might have seemed before.
Read
August 16, 2021Absolutely terrific. The cover has four separate reviews saying 'fascinating' and that really is the word. One of those extraordinary books that explains something so deep in the psyche you've never actually noticed it before. (I've been married for fifteen years and I've only just realised quite how profoundly my husband and I fail to communicate about directions and how they work.)
Genuinely enthralling, often moving in the personal stories told, and a bit worrying in that we're all becoming so reliant on satnav and the blue dot. I will be making more of an effort to exercise my hippocampus (aka notice where I'm going) in future. One of those books that forces you to read bits out to people and sticks in your mind for weeks or months.
Genuinely enthralling, often moving in the personal stories told, and a bit worrying in that we're all becoming so reliant on satnav and the blue dot. I will be making more of an effort to exercise my hippocampus (aka notice where I'm going) in future. One of those books that forces you to read bits out to people and sticks in your mind for weeks or months.
June 26, 2020
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
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
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
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
April 5, 2023
I found Michael Shaw Bond’s book, Wayfinding: The Art and Science of How We Find and Lose Our Way, to be an insightful resource for understanding how we as humans orient ourselves and navigate through the world, in all it’s complexity. Bond is skilled at explaining very complex scientific concepts (in nueroscience, biology and psychology) by breaking them down into bite-size nuggets of information that can be effortlessly absorbed by a lay reader. What I find to be a peculiar trait of books like these, which straddle the boundary of popular psychology and neuroscience, is that they often focus on a very specific topic or problem, with a siloed view, which sometimes misses the broader perspective. To use Bond’s own parlance, sometimes these books “show the trees but miss the forest.” In the case of Wayfinding: The Art and Science of How We Find and Lose Our Way, what I found interesting is that the modern day challenge of wayfinding due to our overdependence on automated navigational technology is part of a broader problem of automation and its adverse influence on human performance. From a human factors perspective this is a pervasive detrimental effect of most cognitively assistive technologies. They often reduce the cognitive effort (and engagement) of users, in a well-intentioned effort to unburden them, which results in the deleterious effects of skills degradation over time (or as Bond would put it – if you dont use part of your brain such as the wayfinding related regions, then you will lose it). Ultimately this is an automation problem which needs to be solved by better system design and application of human factors principles, which seek to optimise human performance. Including this “forest view” would have made the book more complete in my view by tying it all together and linking it back to the root cause of the problem. Without this perspective, the problem of wayfinding in the modern world seeems like an isolated phenomenon which requires unique solutions. In fact, much of what Bond proposes to remedy this problem could be extrapolated to everyday challenges of overdependence on automation. Nevertheless, I found Wayfinding: The Art and Science of How We Find and Lose Our Way to be an enlightening read and would without reservation recommend it to anyone fascinated by the human brain and how it works.
November 16, 2023
Echt ontzettend interessant boek!! Ik moet echt meer non fictie lezen. Heel fascinerend over hoe het werkt om te verdwalen (letterlijk en figuurlijk) en hoe verschillende omgevingen of levensstijlwn invloed hebben op hoe goed je kan navigeren. Vooral over hoe het komt dat sommige mensen een beter richtingsgevoel hebben dan anderen, of de indeling van steden en dat je in sommige steden ook net zo makkelijk kan verdwalen. Het hoofdstuk wat meer inging op de wetenschap en neuronen in onze hersenen ging mij soms iets te boven maar over het algemeen echt ontzettend goed geschreven, nooit de aandacht verloren!
Dus als je minder kans op alzheimer wilt: ditch je google maps en ga met een kaart navigeren!!!
Dus als je minder kans op alzheimer wilt: ditch je google maps en ga met een kaart navigeren!!!
February 9, 2021
Found the first 3 chapters very difficult to get though and inaccessible.
Glad I stuck with it though as the rest of the book was much easier to understand, and the topic fascinating.
Glad I stuck with it though as the rest of the book was much easier to understand, and the topic fascinating.
December 28, 2021
Fascinating material on the neuroscience and psychology of finding our way and getting lost.
October 15, 2025
Dear Goodreads friend,
I humbly put this before you as a book that warrants your thoughtful attention. It is about many things. In these pages you will encounter rats finding their way through the maze. You’ll be blown away by all the critters — human and nonhuman — who have a knack for navigation. You’ll hear plenty of talk about neurons and cognitive maps and so and so who studies this or that. Shoutout to the hippocampus, am I right? You’ll also hopefully become more aware of how it is that you get from point A to point B in this world. But I think most importantly, you’ll find in this book a meditation on what it means to find your way. It is a dreadful thing to be lost. It is a beautiful thing to be found. And for those of us who are prone to wander, it is a wonderful thing to know, even if just a little bit, how to be found again.
You probably won’t agree with everything in this book. I certainly didn’t share the naturalist/evolutionary worldview. And I also don’t think you should read this with the goal of learning as much as possible. I think this is a book to listen to as you drive to work in the morning, walk your neighborhood in the evening, or any other activity where you try to get from where you are to where you want to be. A book where you let your mind wander as the mouse chases the cheese, but turn your attention back when the going gets good.
Take up and read (listen on your wife’s Spotify account while she tries to listen to The Life of a Showgirl)! And let it remind you of how good it is to be found.
I humbly put this before you as a book that warrants your thoughtful attention. It is about many things. In these pages you will encounter rats finding their way through the maze. You’ll be blown away by all the critters — human and nonhuman — who have a knack for navigation. You’ll hear plenty of talk about neurons and cognitive maps and so and so who studies this or that. Shoutout to the hippocampus, am I right? You’ll also hopefully become more aware of how it is that you get from point A to point B in this world. But I think most importantly, you’ll find in this book a meditation on what it means to find your way. It is a dreadful thing to be lost. It is a beautiful thing to be found. And for those of us who are prone to wander, it is a wonderful thing to know, even if just a little bit, how to be found again.
You probably won’t agree with everything in this book. I certainly didn’t share the naturalist/evolutionary worldview. And I also don’t think you should read this with the goal of learning as much as possible. I think this is a book to listen to as you drive to work in the morning, walk your neighborhood in the evening, or any other activity where you try to get from where you are to where you want to be. A book where you let your mind wander as the mouse chases the cheese, but turn your attention back when the going gets good.
Take up and read (listen on your wife’s Spotify account while she tries to listen to The Life of a Showgirl)! And let it remind you of how good it is to be found.
September 25, 2020
Man I loved reading this book! I have always been an advid maphound and geography enthusiast. I have memorized the lat / Lon of my current and childhood homes and thoroughly enjoy navigating and exploring the world around. I think it is a timely read, coming at a time when smartphones have essentially reached market saturation and GPS-based navigation has been widely adopted for the past two decades or so with a focus on how that may not be a totally positive development. I hope to teach my daughter to achieve a level of navigational prowess so she can face the world with confidence and independence. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys maps, navigation, anthropology, neuroscience, and the great outdoors!
November 28, 2024
As someone who grew up in a semirural area and had a lot of freedom to roam in my neighbourhood, and then went into the scouts and spent years hiking and exploring different places, I never thought about the ways all those experiences shaped my brain. I also love walking around cities, and I'm generally rather good at finding out where I'm going, and this book made me appreciate how all that connects me to a tradition of explorers and people who travelled the world.
March 23, 2021
As someone with quite a poor sense of direction I was intrigued to read Wayfinding. Written by science journalist Michael Bond. It takes you through every aspect of the science and psychology of knowing where you are and where you are going.
Bond begins with the innate processes in the brain that help us orientate (and those that can undermine us) – the role of the hippocampus and the cells which help us form cognitive maps. He considers how we learn to navigate, writing about how children first learn their sense of direction through exploration and improvisation. Sadly the more restricted lives of children now means they may not develop those skills.
Bond explains that the two main techniques people use for wayfinding are egocentric and spatial. The egocentric method means plotting a journey from where you are now, knowing, for example that you have to take the first left and the second right. Good navigators are more likely to take a spatial approach – they have a birds-eye view of a place. They are constantly alert to features in the landscape and their relation to each other.
Bond discusses the way wayfinding and memory interact – think of, say, memory palaces. We often store memories by thinking about the place where we were when we made them – not just that romantic beach holiday, but mundane ones. To remember where you put your keys, you might think back to where you were when you last had them. I also think that the sense of helpless incredulity I feel when I’m lost is similar to that when you lose an object – you no longer trust the evidence of your senses, convinced that inanimate objects are conspiring against you to not be where they should.
Loss of sense of place is a key feature of dementia. Evidence shows that for people with Alzheimer’s, loss of spatial awareness is detectable before memory loss. Bond suggests that the desire to wander shown by many people with dementia arises out of a feeling of being lost and trying to return to somewhere they can recognise, in much the same way as people who are literally lost do.
Our mental wellbeing and our sense of where we are in the world are inextricably bound. Many metaphors we use for our emotional state relate to location – lost, found, grounded, adrift, at home. We talk about close friends and distant relatives. There is also a suggestion that strengthening the connections in the brain that deal with wayfinding might be protective against dementia.
Emergency services and rescue teams have made use of the growing body of research on how people react when they are lost and where they go. One finding Bond cites is that when people panic, they have a tendency to keep walking. We can recognise that understandable desire to do something. What actually happens is they end up walking in circles. The advice from the experts is to stay in one place.
One story Bond describes is particularly moving. Gerry Largay went missing on the Appalachian Trail. She was an experienced walker who did everything right but sadly she was not rescued. Her body (and her journal giving an account of her final days) were only found two years later.
I found Wayfinding fascinating. It’s an accessible read for a non-scientist. The one part I found challenging was the section on the neuroscience, but it became clearer as I read the rest of the book – and I was interested enough to go back and read it again after I finished.
This book has actually changed my behaviour. I have made more of an effort to develop a spatial view on my lockdown walks, not just to appreciate interesting buildings or trees or gardens, but to take note of how they relate to each other. Once we are able to visit unfamiliar places again, I will hopefully become a better navigator, thanks to Wayfinding!
*
I received a copy of Wayfinding from the publisher via Netgalley.
Bond begins with the innate processes in the brain that help us orientate (and those that can undermine us) – the role of the hippocampus and the cells which help us form cognitive maps. He considers how we learn to navigate, writing about how children first learn their sense of direction through exploration and improvisation. Sadly the more restricted lives of children now means they may not develop those skills.
Bond explains that the two main techniques people use for wayfinding are egocentric and spatial. The egocentric method means plotting a journey from where you are now, knowing, for example that you have to take the first left and the second right. Good navigators are more likely to take a spatial approach – they have a birds-eye view of a place. They are constantly alert to features in the landscape and their relation to each other.
Bond discusses the way wayfinding and memory interact – think of, say, memory palaces. We often store memories by thinking about the place where we were when we made them – not just that romantic beach holiday, but mundane ones. To remember where you put your keys, you might think back to where you were when you last had them. I also think that the sense of helpless incredulity I feel when I’m lost is similar to that when you lose an object – you no longer trust the evidence of your senses, convinced that inanimate objects are conspiring against you to not be where they should.
Loss of sense of place is a key feature of dementia. Evidence shows that for people with Alzheimer’s, loss of spatial awareness is detectable before memory loss. Bond suggests that the desire to wander shown by many people with dementia arises out of a feeling of being lost and trying to return to somewhere they can recognise, in much the same way as people who are literally lost do.
Our mental wellbeing and our sense of where we are in the world are inextricably bound. Many metaphors we use for our emotional state relate to location – lost, found, grounded, adrift, at home. We talk about close friends and distant relatives. There is also a suggestion that strengthening the connections in the brain that deal with wayfinding might be protective against dementia.
Emergency services and rescue teams have made use of the growing body of research on how people react when they are lost and where they go. One finding Bond cites is that when people panic, they have a tendency to keep walking. We can recognise that understandable desire to do something. What actually happens is they end up walking in circles. The advice from the experts is to stay in one place.
One story Bond describes is particularly moving. Gerry Largay went missing on the Appalachian Trail. She was an experienced walker who did everything right but sadly she was not rescued. Her body (and her journal giving an account of her final days) were only found two years later.
I found Wayfinding fascinating. It’s an accessible read for a non-scientist. The one part I found challenging was the section on the neuroscience, but it became clearer as I read the rest of the book – and I was interested enough to go back and read it again after I finished.
This book has actually changed my behaviour. I have made more of an effort to develop a spatial view on my lockdown walks, not just to appreciate interesting buildings or trees or gardens, but to take note of how they relate to each other. Once we are able to visit unfamiliar places again, I will hopefully become a better navigator, thanks to Wayfinding!
*
I received a copy of Wayfinding from the publisher via Netgalley.
July 6, 2023
Made me want to wander in the woods but without becoming disoriented.
yeah-nah
December 30, 2020Abandoned. Got halfway through chapter 4 and I was just asking, why? So boring. Not the topic, but they way it was presented.
June 8, 2024
3,5 stars
Beautifully ties together biology and psychology in relation to wayfinding.
This is my first "true" pop-science read, and although I do understand the science described(making it easier to follow along) I still found myself forgetting which part of the brain that did what, and which cells were responsible for this or that. It may be on me, but I found that the sciencey element took away from the more important message, which is in regards to the role wayfinding plays in our relationship with the world around us.
What I liked the most was the linkage between mental illness and obstructed or lack of ability to navigate. I also very much enjoyed the part about missing individuals, city-planning and wayfindings cultural significance.
Beautifully ties together biology and psychology in relation to wayfinding.
This is my first "true" pop-science read, and although I do understand the science described(making it easier to follow along) I still found myself forgetting which part of the brain that did what, and which cells were responsible for this or that. It may be on me, but I found that the sciencey element took away from the more important message, which is in regards to the role wayfinding plays in our relationship with the world around us.
What I liked the most was the linkage between mental illness and obstructed or lack of ability to navigate. I also very much enjoyed the part about missing individuals, city-planning and wayfindings cultural significance.
May 29, 2024
Erg fascinerend. Een boek over navigeren, de weg terug vinden, wat uiteindelijk veel verteld over wat het is om mens te zijn. Ik had ook niet stilgestaan bij hoe sociaal navigeren eigenlijk is, we vragen elkaar de weg en waren vroeger afhankelijk van anderen om niet verdwaald te raken.
Ironisch genoeg kocht ik dit boek een jaar geleden en raakte ik hem vervolgens kwijt, waarnaar ik na een doelloze wandeling hem weer terug vond in een bieb in Utrecht.
Mooi boek, aanrader.
Ironisch genoeg kocht ik dit boek een jaar geleden en raakte ik hem vervolgens kwijt, waarnaar ik na een doelloze wandeling hem weer terug vond in een bieb in Utrecht.
Mooi boek, aanrader.
May 19, 2022
This book was exactly what I hoped it will be,
July 30, 2023
It really is fascinating! And inspiring - I am going to go out and get lost in my neighborhood and see how I fare.
January 30, 2025
To quote several other readers
‘Fascinating’
‘Fascinating’
August 4, 2023
loved the first chapters but DNF
December 30, 2020
Really enjoyed this and learned a lot! I was expecting a shallow pop science history, but Bond goes in depth into the neuroscience of path finding and sense of direction. Great chapters on how kids navigate their world and links between Alzheimer's/dementia and sense of place.
August 3, 2020
When was the last time you strolled aimlessly through an unfamiliar place ? Or tried to find your way without following the blue dot on Google maps? (While safely distancing of course.)
In Wayfinding, Michael Bond details what spatial cognition is and how it has shaped humanity for the past thousand years. He goes into the latest neuroscientific research, describing what is currently known about how rodent's brains (and supposedly also ours) process space. And, equally important, how this spatial code is relevant for anchoring us in our lives and our memories. He goes further, by tying navigating, wayfinding and exploring into a much bigger picture, namely the history of humanity. I loved the chapters in which he takes a look at how languages and social interaction revolve so much around exchanging knowledge about our surroundings.
This topic is very dear to me, as it is closely related to the research I do. I was so happy to see how the authors doesn't gloss over more complex aspects - there's nothing better than a popular science book that explains the facts well, rather than making bold claims that the people behind the research would shake their heads about. Even better, he shows how areas of research can span so many different disciplines - in Wayfinding it's not just about the basic science but also how this knowledge could be used for prevention of Alzheimer's and dementia, and aids with rescue searches of lost persons. And how often helpful technology like GPS might make us lazy at exploration and wayfinding - behaviours that have been driving currents in the history of humanity.
In Wayfinding, Michael Bond details what spatial cognition is and how it has shaped humanity for the past thousand years. He goes into the latest neuroscientific research, describing what is currently known about how rodent's brains (and supposedly also ours) process space. And, equally important, how this spatial code is relevant for anchoring us in our lives and our memories. He goes further, by tying navigating, wayfinding and exploring into a much bigger picture, namely the history of humanity. I loved the chapters in which he takes a look at how languages and social interaction revolve so much around exchanging knowledge about our surroundings.
This topic is very dear to me, as it is closely related to the research I do. I was so happy to see how the authors doesn't gloss over more complex aspects - there's nothing better than a popular science book that explains the facts well, rather than making bold claims that the people behind the research would shake their heads about. Even better, he shows how areas of research can span so many different disciplines - in Wayfinding it's not just about the basic science but also how this knowledge could be used for prevention of Alzheimer's and dementia, and aids with rescue searches of lost persons. And how often helpful technology like GPS might make us lazy at exploration and wayfinding - behaviours that have been driving currents in the history of humanity.
February 4, 2025
This was a random pick off the non-fiction shelf at the library, and a pretty solid choice! I occasionally like to pick up a non-fiction book, especially if it's to do with nature or human nature, and this seemed to appeal to both to me. Plus the fact that we'd just watched Moana 2 (again!), so wayfinding was kind of stuck in my head!
This gave an excellent overview of, as the tagline says, how we find and lose our way. I really enjoyed the parts about how children explore differently to us - and it meant we had some very interesting walks the weekend I read it by letting our 5 and 3 year old lead the way at times! The brain part was pretty scientific and not entirely my subject matter of choice, so I read it so I had an understanding, but skimmed it more than other parts of the book. I preferred the real life references to human nature to honest. I did find the parts about how wayfinding can develop the brain very interesting, and how we can use it to better understand people living with dementia, or to help find those who are lost.
It feels like this has opened my eyes to a lot of things. We're now planning to take on some orienteering challenges as a family!
This gave an excellent overview of, as the tagline says, how we find and lose our way. I really enjoyed the parts about how children explore differently to us - and it meant we had some very interesting walks the weekend I read it by letting our 5 and 3 year old lead the way at times! The brain part was pretty scientific and not entirely my subject matter of choice, so I read it so I had an understanding, but skimmed it more than other parts of the book. I preferred the real life references to human nature to honest. I did find the parts about how wayfinding can develop the brain very interesting, and how we can use it to better understand people living with dementia, or to help find those who are lost.
It feels like this has opened my eyes to a lot of things. We're now planning to take on some orienteering challenges as a family!
March 2, 2021
This is a well-written book but half of it is a fairly boring neuroanatomy lecture about rat neurons. The whole book reads like a 225-page New Yorker article - something Malcolm Gladwell might write. The chapters that focus on the psychology of people when they are lost and the things that cause them to make an already bad situation even worse are fascinating, as are the chapters comparing getting lost in the wilderness versus the city. The author reinforces his theories and observations with exhaustive footnotes and citations, as any good investigative journalist should do; the reader is confident that everything in the book is accurate. I learned a lot from this book and I'd recommend it for anyone with an interest in the outdoors, hiking or wilderness adventure.
March 30, 2021
A must read for wanders, hikers, runnier, nature lover and .. basically everyone!
It’s a scientific book about navigation, wayfinder and human ability of finding their path - AND IT is made readable for everyone.
It covers topic from how we find our way as children, the affects of different method of freedom, how human is unlearning the skills of way finding, thanks to technology, and how lost does a Alzheimer patient feel and behave.
Beside stating the scientific research on the area or topic the author wrote about the affects and practical guidance for you to follow.
I want to give it 4,5 ⭐️- half down due to some chapters where he writes about rat neurones, where he lost me.
SPOILER - when you lost - STAND STILL! 💃🏼
It’s a scientific book about navigation, wayfinder and human ability of finding their path - AND IT is made readable for everyone.
It covers topic from how we find our way as children, the affects of different method of freedom, how human is unlearning the skills of way finding, thanks to technology, and how lost does a Alzheimer patient feel and behave.
Beside stating the scientific research on the area or topic the author wrote about the affects and practical guidance for you to follow.
I want to give it 4,5 ⭐️- half down due to some chapters where he writes about rat neurones, where he lost me.
SPOILER - when you lost - STAND STILL! 💃🏼
January 31, 2022
This book covers what wayfinding is, how we do it, why we do it, how our brain works to allow us to do it, what happens when we get lost, what the connection is to Alzheimer’s and why GPS is a good thing and also, maybe, a really bad one, and a whole lot more.
I found it all completely fascinating. I did not know much of the stuff in it. Did you know, for instance, that people actually do walk round in circles when lost? I thought that was just a turn of phrase, but apparently it really happens – except if you have Alzheimer’s, in which case you tend to walk in straight lines.
I found it all completely fascinating. I did not know much of the stuff in it. Did you know, for instance, that people actually do walk round in circles when lost? I thought that was just a turn of phrase, but apparently it really happens – except if you have Alzheimer’s, in which case you tend to walk in straight lines.
September 5, 2020
So interesting! Randomly picked up from the new books at the library, i was attracted to it because of my directional challenges... i never know what direction I am going or facing. 🤷♀️
This book addresses that and so many other things...how children no longer go outside and explore their worlds, neurology, the impact of GPS, historical and cultural needs for wayfinding, getting lost, dementia. Well written and understandable.
This book addresses that and so many other things...how children no longer go outside and explore their worlds, neurology, the impact of GPS, historical and cultural needs for wayfinding, getting lost, dementia. Well written and understandable.
December 18, 2022
Bond's book is an easy and enjoyable read, even though the author is a bit all over the place, meandering from topic to topic. Then again, this topical meandering is a good fit for a book that’s about getting lost.
So, a few of my observations...
Bond argues that Homo sapiens conquered the world exactly because of its stronger sense of special awareness and his exceptional ability to navigate.
Children are natural explorers and only get stymied when older. And, these days, get much fewer opportunities than decades ago.
Bond describes how rats, and, by extension, other mammals, become familiar with individual spaces; we have a number of different types of ‘place cells’ in our brain, which ‘fire’ when certain geospatial properties are true, such as being in a specific place, our head facing a particular direction, our proximity to an edge, etc.
By certain combinations of these cells firing at the same time, or in a pattern, we become familiar with locations, building internal, intuitive, maps of physical space. We know we have been somewhere before because the same pattern fires.
Bond doesn’t mention it, but it seems that it follows that, if for certain reasons a very similar pattern fires, in a place, or situation, which we have not been in before, we surely must feel that ‘we have been there before’, or perhaps ‘I must have dreamed this’.
Fascinating: head direction cells don’t trigger based on compass points, but in relation to relative orientation with respect to prominent landmarks, within the scope of the individual; you first see the Eiffel Tower? That’s your lode star. Your first see the Louvre? Then that’s it, instead.
“Landmarks are essential for our sense of direction, just as boundaries are essential for our sense of place.”
To entrench their spatial memory in their brains, rats replay the firing of space cells while sleeping, perhaps while dreaming, at 10 to 20 times the speed.
Does this imply that we dream at that speed? A minute of dream time is only three seconds in real life?
‘Grid cells’ are particularly fascinating, firing in precise hexagonal patterns of different grid sizes.
When planning a route, we seem to ‘project’ our future experience in a way that fires the series of place cells in the sequence they would occur when moving through space in the routes we consider as alternatives.
It’s been shown that when using navigational tools, specifically GPS, this no longer occurs. Thus, by us relying more and more on GPS, we literally lose the physical ability to navigate in familiar spaces.
Space and memory are closely related to each other, and to the hippocampus.
This would explain the success of The Memory Palace.
Language, also processed in the hippocampus, is heavily peppered with spatial terms, and triggers the brain in a similar way as to how spatial thinking does.
Related, mental disabilities and a lack in being able to socially and partially navigate are connected.
Those with a strong sense of direction also score highly in extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness, and low on neuroticism. So, navigational skills correlate with personality.
But, also fascinating, a long running study has found no correlation between the personality of a person at 14 and at 77.
Differences in the ability to navigate between men and women appear to be the result of nurture, not nature.
It’s known that, given no external visual cues, people walk in circles, though not always in the same direction.
But, surprisingly, without cues, people will not travel more than around 100 meters from their starting position, regardless of how long they walk for.
Being lost is emotional stress, complete disorientation which makes us think and act irrationally.
To make built up areas easier to navigate, they need to be both legible and intelligible. They are legible when they are easy to make sense of, they are intelligible when they are connected to other places.
“In exchange for the absolute certainty of knowing where we are in space [using GPS], we sacrifice our sense of place.”
“Without a story to tell of our journey, we cease to be wayfinders.”
In the epilogue, Bond talks about psychogeography, and tools and methods that purposely help people to get lost. Dérive app gets a shout out.
So, a few of my observations...
Bond argues that Homo sapiens conquered the world exactly because of its stronger sense of special awareness and his exceptional ability to navigate.
Children are natural explorers and only get stymied when older. And, these days, get much fewer opportunities than decades ago.
Bond describes how rats, and, by extension, other mammals, become familiar with individual spaces; we have a number of different types of ‘place cells’ in our brain, which ‘fire’ when certain geospatial properties are true, such as being in a specific place, our head facing a particular direction, our proximity to an edge, etc.
By certain combinations of these cells firing at the same time, or in a pattern, we become familiar with locations, building internal, intuitive, maps of physical space. We know we have been somewhere before because the same pattern fires.
Bond doesn’t mention it, but it seems that it follows that, if for certain reasons a very similar pattern fires, in a place, or situation, which we have not been in before, we surely must feel that ‘we have been there before’, or perhaps ‘I must have dreamed this’.
Fascinating: head direction cells don’t trigger based on compass points, but in relation to relative orientation with respect to prominent landmarks, within the scope of the individual; you first see the Eiffel Tower? That’s your lode star. Your first see the Louvre? Then that’s it, instead.
“Landmarks are essential for our sense of direction, just as boundaries are essential for our sense of place.”
To entrench their spatial memory in their brains, rats replay the firing of space cells while sleeping, perhaps while dreaming, at 10 to 20 times the speed.
Does this imply that we dream at that speed? A minute of dream time is only three seconds in real life?
‘Grid cells’ are particularly fascinating, firing in precise hexagonal patterns of different grid sizes.
When planning a route, we seem to ‘project’ our future experience in a way that fires the series of place cells in the sequence they would occur when moving through space in the routes we consider as alternatives.
It’s been shown that when using navigational tools, specifically GPS, this no longer occurs. Thus, by us relying more and more on GPS, we literally lose the physical ability to navigate in familiar spaces.
Space and memory are closely related to each other, and to the hippocampus.
This would explain the success of The Memory Palace.
Language, also processed in the hippocampus, is heavily peppered with spatial terms, and triggers the brain in a similar way as to how spatial thinking does.
Related, mental disabilities and a lack in being able to socially and partially navigate are connected.
Those with a strong sense of direction also score highly in extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness, and low on neuroticism. So, navigational skills correlate with personality.
But, also fascinating, a long running study has found no correlation between the personality of a person at 14 and at 77.
Differences in the ability to navigate between men and women appear to be the result of nurture, not nature.
It’s known that, given no external visual cues, people walk in circles, though not always in the same direction.
But, surprisingly, without cues, people will not travel more than around 100 meters from their starting position, regardless of how long they walk for.
Being lost is emotional stress, complete disorientation which makes us think and act irrationally.
To make built up areas easier to navigate, they need to be both legible and intelligible. They are legible when they are easy to make sense of, they are intelligible when they are connected to other places.
“In exchange for the absolute certainty of knowing where we are in space [using GPS], we sacrifice our sense of place.”
“Without a story to tell of our journey, we cease to be wayfinders.”
In the epilogue, Bond talks about psychogeography, and tools and methods that purposely help people to get lost. Dérive app gets a shout out.
January 15, 2023
2023 Thumbnail Review #3 Wayfinding by Michael Bond
This catapults straight to the top of my ‘recommend to everybody’ list. It instantly sits alongside Richard Morris’s Time’s Anvil as one of those books that illuminate whole areas of existence that you’d never actively thought about before; like visiting an entirely new country for the first time.
The subject matter is quite simple: how human beings find their way around, and what happens when we get lost. It’s fascinating, and startling. Bond first explains very clearly the brain science involved, the mechanisms by which we (and animals) navigate our environment. He then explores what this means for our ability to travel, to explore and to accurately find our way to places both familiar and unknown. If you’ve never thought how you find your way to the shops, or to Italy (I hadn’t), this book explains it. It ranges (sic) from the global navigation achievements of explorers like the Polynesians, to the immediate problems confronted by people in confusing buildings like the Barbican (my pet hate).
Bond then examines what happens when we get lost, either by leaving the path (shades of Bilbo in Mirkwood), or in cases of mental impairment like senility. In the first instance he uses the example of a hiker who went a few yards off the Appalachian Trail, got lost and died (her body was found two years later, half a mile from the trail). For the latter he examines both natural ageing and the particular issues faced by dementia sufferers.
The book is jammed full of examples and facts that cry out to be repeated (in conversation, in the pub, etc etc ). When I next see you, I’ll bore you with some. Sorry, I mean astonish you with some.
The book also tends to be rather alarming. Our ability to navigate is learnt, and is related to our wider cognitive abilities. The richer the ‘cognitive maps’ we create on our travels, the better off we are overall. Children who walk to school have far wider awareness than those who are driven. The more we rely on satnavs, the poorer our cognitive maps. And so on. Eek.
I need to stop there and go for a walk.
‘In England, the proportion of primary schoolchildren whose parents allow them to travel alone to places other than school dropped from 94 per cent in 1971 to 7 per cent in 2010.’
This catapults straight to the top of my ‘recommend to everybody’ list. It instantly sits alongside Richard Morris’s Time’s Anvil as one of those books that illuminate whole areas of existence that you’d never actively thought about before; like visiting an entirely new country for the first time.
The subject matter is quite simple: how human beings find their way around, and what happens when we get lost. It’s fascinating, and startling. Bond first explains very clearly the brain science involved, the mechanisms by which we (and animals) navigate our environment. He then explores what this means for our ability to travel, to explore and to accurately find our way to places both familiar and unknown. If you’ve never thought how you find your way to the shops, or to Italy (I hadn’t), this book explains it. It ranges (sic) from the global navigation achievements of explorers like the Polynesians, to the immediate problems confronted by people in confusing buildings like the Barbican (my pet hate).
Bond then examines what happens when we get lost, either by leaving the path (shades of Bilbo in Mirkwood), or in cases of mental impairment like senility. In the first instance he uses the example of a hiker who went a few yards off the Appalachian Trail, got lost and died (her body was found two years later, half a mile from the trail). For the latter he examines both natural ageing and the particular issues faced by dementia sufferers.
The book is jammed full of examples and facts that cry out to be repeated (in conversation, in the pub, etc etc ). When I next see you, I’ll bore you with some. Sorry, I mean astonish you with some.
The book also tends to be rather alarming. Our ability to navigate is learnt, and is related to our wider cognitive abilities. The richer the ‘cognitive maps’ we create on our travels, the better off we are overall. Children who walk to school have far wider awareness than those who are driven. The more we rely on satnavs, the poorer our cognitive maps. And so on. Eek.
I need to stop there and go for a walk.
‘In England, the proportion of primary schoolchildren whose parents allow them to travel alone to places other than school dropped from 94 per cent in 1971 to 7 per cent in 2010.’
July 31, 2024
A scientific book but easy reading, worth continuing with even if you find yourself bogged down in the Chapter 2 discussion of neurons in rats.
Its an exploration of human navigation, trying to decipher how it works, why some have better skills than others and our over reliance on GPS in the modern age. The author puts a deeply personal touch on it by linking in with Alzheimers, who a relative suffers from.
Love the beginning, as the facts and figures on how modern children are not allowed to explore because of the impact of the "bogey man" and traffic. Only one of those is really a hazard. Then we get bogged down in lost of experimentation on rats and the parts of the brain used in navigation. Finally it picks up with a real world tragic story of a lady lost on a North American Trail and the fascination chapter on how Cities are designed to aid transit. Loved the reference to "desire" paths, where humans will find the easiest way between a-b, regardless of the design.
Plenty of inspiration for future works - Rebecca Solnit and a field guide to getting lost. Image of the City by Kevin Lynch. Archie Archambault and his bubble maps. The loiters resistance movement.
Finally - a chapter on apps that can provide some psychogeography and previously unheard of. More research required by me into Serendipitor, Drift, Derive and Getlostbot.
Its an exploration of human navigation, trying to decipher how it works, why some have better skills than others and our over reliance on GPS in the modern age. The author puts a deeply personal touch on it by linking in with Alzheimers, who a relative suffers from.
Love the beginning, as the facts and figures on how modern children are not allowed to explore because of the impact of the "bogey man" and traffic. Only one of those is really a hazard. Then we get bogged down in lost of experimentation on rats and the parts of the brain used in navigation. Finally it picks up with a real world tragic story of a lady lost on a North American Trail and the fascination chapter on how Cities are designed to aid transit. Loved the reference to "desire" paths, where humans will find the easiest way between a-b, regardless of the design.
Plenty of inspiration for future works - Rebecca Solnit and a field guide to getting lost. Image of the City by Kevin Lynch. Archie Archambault and his bubble maps. The loiters resistance movement.
Finally - a chapter on apps that can provide some psychogeography and previously unheard of. More research required by me into Serendipitor, Drift, Derive and Getlostbot.
October 20, 2024
A brief but deep book! He covers a wide range of topics with clear coherence. The deep dive into neuroscience provided helpful depth and context. He expresses profound sympathy for those who easily get lost, the wanderings of Alzheimers patients, and the challenges inherent in navigating. One of my most appreciated insights was that "mental maps" are not so much spatial maps as they are maps of cognition, neurons marking familiar places, boundaries, or orienting on a point so as to show degrees of deviation from that "fixed" point... but the mind isn't producing Google Maps internally.
Another helpful insight is that some people (or at some times) navigate in an "egocentric" fashion, meaning turn-by-turn directions. Other people (or at other times) use "spatial navigation" where they have a larger picture sense of where they are. Overall, the latter are better navigators and can deal with shortcuts or blockages of route, but the former method has its place too.
He is not anti-GPS but says that it doesn't really engage the brains aeons-old navigational systems. An unanswered question to me is if one uses GPS to gain a spatial sense of where things are and not just for turn-by-turn (egocentric) navigation, is it as deleterious?
Clearly, a thought-provoking book, with lots of great historical anecdotes and examples.
Another helpful insight is that some people (or at some times) navigate in an "egocentric" fashion, meaning turn-by-turn directions. Other people (or at other times) use "spatial navigation" where they have a larger picture sense of where they are. Overall, the latter are better navigators and can deal with shortcuts or blockages of route, but the former method has its place too.
He is not anti-GPS but says that it doesn't really engage the brains aeons-old navigational systems. An unanswered question to me is if one uses GPS to gain a spatial sense of where things are and not just for turn-by-turn (egocentric) navigation, is it as deleterious?
Clearly, a thought-provoking book, with lots of great historical anecdotes and examples.
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