Lose yourself in this extraordinary account of how we navigate the world
"A NATURAL STORYTELLER" Mary Roach
"BRILLIANT AND BEGUILING" Matthew Gavin Frank
"CAPTIVATING ... WILL ALTER THE WAY YOU SEE AND MOVE THROUGH THE WORLD" M. R. O'Connor
Within our heads, we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have - older even than language - and in Dark and Magical Places, Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do.
From the secrets of supernavigators to the strange, dreamlike environments inhabited by people with 'place blindness', he will explore the myriad ways in which we find our way. Kemp explains the cutting-edge neuroscience that is transforming our understanding of it - and tries to answer why, for a species with a highly-sophisticated
internal navigation system that evolved over millions of years, do humans get lost such a lot?
"I WAS THRILLED TO DISCOVER THIS BOOK" Robert Moor
'Chris Kemp may not be able to find his way out of a stairwell, but he has quickly and with no false turns made his way to
the top of my list of favorite science writers ... A natural storyteller, a deft explainer, and a terrific and funny writer. - FUZZ
'Brilliant and beguiling' - FLIGHT OF THE DIAMOND SMUGGLERS
'Captivating ... will alter the way you see and move through the world. ' - WAYFINDING
'As a person who often finds myself lost in cities and forests alike, I was thrilled to discover this book, a dazzling-at times
dizzying-exploration of brains and places, how they trouble one another and how they a give one another meaning. - ON TRAILS