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Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World

M.R. O’Connor presents Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World in conversation with James Delbourgo.

Greenlight welcomes Brooklyn neighbor and journalist M. R. O’Connor to present her book Wayfinding, a fascinating look at how finding our way makes us human. Part travelogue, part popular science, O’Connor’s book was inspired by her experience of being led astray by a navigation application on a smartphone. As a science journalist, she began to wonder whether there are unintended, cognitive consequences of outsourcing our innate navigation skills to a device, and began to dig deep into the fields of neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, biology, religion, and natural history to learn as much as she could about the traditions and importance of navigation. O’Connor travels around the world to learn about navigation traditions that utilize environmental cues, rather than instruments or maps, and how master navigators are trying to preserve these unique practices in the age of GPS. A travel book for science geeks, Wayfinding is ultimately a discovery of how our species’ profound capacity for exploration, memory and storytelling result in powerful connections to the world around us. O’Connor presents her book in conversation with Rutgers professor James Delbourgo, whose research combines the history of science with imperial and global history.











When: Tue., Apr. 30, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Where: Greenlight Bookstore Prospect Lefferts Gardens
632 Flatbush Ave.
718-246-0200
Price: Free
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M.R. O’Connor presents Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World in conversation with James Delbourgo.

Greenlight welcomes Brooklyn neighbor and journalist M. R. O’Connor to present her book Wayfinding, a fascinating look at how finding our way makes us human. Part travelogue, part popular science, O’Connor’s book was inspired by her experience of being led astray by a navigation application on a smartphone. As a science journalist, she began to wonder whether there are unintended, cognitive consequences of outsourcing our innate navigation skills to a device, and began to dig deep into the fields of neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, biology, religion, and natural history to learn as much as she could about the traditions and importance of navigation. O’Connor travels around the world to learn about navigation traditions that utilize environmental cues, rather than instruments or maps, and how master navigators are trying to preserve these unique practices in the age of GPS. A travel book for science geeks, Wayfinding is ultimately a discovery of how our species’ profound capacity for exploration, memory and storytelling result in powerful connections to the world around us. O’Connor presents her book in conversation with Rutgers professor James Delbourgo, whose research combines the history of science with imperial and global history.

Buy tickets/get more info now