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

by Erik Jonsson, Donald A. Norman (Introduction)

A lively text, intriguing facts, and real-world examples combine to present a fascinating exploration into our "cognitive maps, " which are inherited from our animal ancestors, allowing us to navigate the physical world. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Philosophy, Cultural

352 pages, Hardcover

First published February 19, 2002

Reviews

[Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a spiritual guidance book. This is a neurological book that helps you understand why some people have a great sense of direction and others do not. Using real-life observations in different cultures with different approaches to wayfinding, Jonsson explains in an easily-understood, fun-to-read book how we think about where we are.
Fascinating read, serious, but very well done.

[Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Absolute Gem of a Book

I like to go on hikes and when I go alone I take small sized books with me to read at various way points on the trail. I bought this book because its basic idea seemed to reference some of the experiences I have had while on these hikes.

In the forward, written by noted cognitive scientist and Apple Fellow Donald Norman we find out that the author, Erik Jonsson is the kind of person who takes extension courses at the local college in order to better understand himself and the world he lives in. While taking such courses he meets Prof. Norman who encourages Jonsson to turn his essays into this book.

Jonsson begins with his personal experience while hiking or traveling. He relates that he creates cognitive maps based on feature in the environment, but more importantly he discusses confusion errors and how they create a sense of disorientation, only to be suddenly reversed when some new factor comes into account. This is something that I can relate to. I live in Toronto where "Lake" is "South", but when I visit downtown Chicago I intuitively use this rule and often get lost - unless I actively realize that Lake Michigan is to the North and consciously sort out left/right/east/west. Similarly on a loopback trail just this past weekend I experienced a sense of disorientation trying to get back to the trail head until I recognized a pair of trees as I approached them from the opposite direction and understood where I was in terms the the route and the last two minor trail crossings.

The book is rich in other examples. Jonsson looks at the literature and discussed the problems of navigating in the Sahara or of using the prevailing winds to find one's way in the Arctic. He even comes up with an interesting suggestion as to why animals and people tend to run in large circles rather than in a straight line. But perhaps the most fun example (for me) is the apparently common problem of navigating in San Francisco. If you come from some other coastal town one can use the smell of the sea to orient oneself - yet San Francisco is on a peninsual with the sea all around - a literally disorienting experience!

What is truly inspiring is the Eric Jonsson was born in 1922 and so would have been about 80 in 2002 when the book was published. We are (unfortunately) unlikely therefore to hear from him again. I find it uplifting that a man in his twilight years was able to contribute something significant to the advancement of science. All of us should be so fortunate.

I recommend this book for one's personal library. I've lent it out a couple of times and others have agreed that it contains some excellent insights. Should it ever be lost I would buy it again in an instant!

[Nathaniel Houser · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a interesting read on cognitive maps and the sense of direction within the spatial system. Erik, explains with stories and scientific experiments why people get lost in the woods and get lost in parking lots when they try to find their car. Within this novel many rare circumstances are described when the mental sense of north turns into south and a persons navigation becomes changed. Navigation can be easy with landmarks being easily memorized, but what happens when a person climbs a mountain from the south and not the usual north or east approach. This novel attempts to explain why when a person flies in a plane he can lose a sense of direction because of time and jet lag and disorientation. I would recommend Inner Navigation to the reader who wants to better understand orientation and loss of direction and cognitive maps. Each person a way finder or a city dweller as a sense of orientation and a inner magnetic compass. Visual landmarks, trees, mountains, houses and oceans create this spatial system map imprinted on the memory and if that map changes the memory is lost. The mind creates a spatial map of surroundings every time the reader visits a new area. A good read on cognitive maps and direction orientation without GPS.

[Paul Dobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this when i was on a strong neuro-science kick. Very thought-provoking and a great help in understanding why we do what we do. I'd like to read it again with more of a critical eye to see how it holds up.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of repetition, ungrounded points. It seems as if the author has only two short points to make but streches it out over 300 pages. He should've just written a short article.

[Laurian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for the DC UX Bookclub. I enjoyed the first half quite a lot, but after that it became, much like the stories described, disorienting. I think perhaps the most annoying part was that he described many experiments that would have been worthwhile and of good value to the book, but did not actually conduct them.

[Adam Wiggins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting concept, but the contents seem to be mostly the author doing semi-obvious introspection on his personal experiences with his own sense of direction. I was hoping for something a little more like science and a little less like Plato-style philosophy.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

How the mind processes routefinding, navigation, and knowing where you are. Useful information if you are constantly finding your way through new places.