Publishers Weekly
01/31/2022
The brain’s ability to navigate takes center stage in this sharp survey from molecular biologist Kemp (The Lost Species). As he writes, “Navigation is one of the most cognitively complex tasks our brains perform.” Kemp explores this complexity from a range of perspectives: he takes readers inside research labs where scientists probe the way neurons connect with other neurons to create mental maps and images; investigates how the Tsimane people navigate dense Bolivian rainforest; demonstrates how desert ants find their way around the Sahara Desert; and digs into neurobiology research, including the 1984 discovery of head-direction cells, which function as an inner compass. Along the way, Kemp debunks numerous myths, including the idea that females possess poorer navigational skills than males, and reflects on the difference between the navigational abilities of modern humans versus those of Neanderthals. What separates the two, he suggests, is the use of the subjunctive form, which led to humans being better at navigating. Kemp peppers in accounts of his own poor navigational abilities and colorful stories of people getting lost, which keep things moving along. The result is both enjoyable and accessible. (Jan.)
Mary Roach
"Christopher 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. For all his navigational shortcomings, Kemp is an expert guide to the most complex landscape of all: the human brain. He’s a natural storyteller, a deft explainer, and a terrific and funny writer."
Robert Moor
"A dazzling—at times dizzying—exploration of brains and places, how they trouble one another and how they give one another meaning."
Matthew Gavin Frank
"Christopher Kemp’s brilliant and beguiling new book reveals that behind the curtain of the seemingly quotidian act of traversing space lies an array of intricate neuroscientific magic tricks, temporal feats of strength, hiccups, and elusive mysteries. Like the brain itself, Kemp’s wild writing quakes and sparks, uncovering the lyric lurking in the neuroscientific, the hilarious in the incantatory."
David Eagleman
"A modern look inside the brain, written as beautifully as a long-form poem. Don’t miss this opportunity to let Kemp show you the how and why of where."
John Mooallem
"A fascinating and sneakily amusing book. Kemp is an elegant and quick-witted writer who, feeling perpetually and hopelessly lost himself, is perfectly qualified to lead us through some of the most complicated and discombobulating corners of human cognition."
M. R. O’Connor
"As both scientist and scribe, Kemp brings his gifts of curiosity and intelligence to bear on the topic of navigation and shows us that there is no shame in being lost. On the contrary, Kemp demonstrates that to be continuously and authentically in search of our place on Earth is a wondrous thing."
Science - Marcia Bécu and Christian F. Doeller
"This tome is no textbook. It is designed to be accessible to a large audience: Nonscientists will benefit from Kemp’s capacity to render vivid representations of the complexity of living organisms, but scientists, too, are likely to gain something from reading this book."
Booklist - Tony Miksanek
"Finding our way is a basic necessity of life, yet it is mostly taken for granted. Kemp effectively explains just how complex and astonishing that task really is."
Library Journal
01/01/2022
"Navigation is one of the most cognitively complex tasks our brains perform," writes Kemp (molecular biology, Michigan State Univ.; Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris). Here the "navigationally challenged" author takes a deep dive into the neurobiology of navigation in an effort to understand his own shortcomings. He frames his exploration with the compelling story of Amanda Eller who became lost in a forest on Maui in 2019; it isn't until the last chapter that readers discover what happened to her. In between, Kemp writes about place cells (a type of neuron that codes for location), grid cells (which code for direction and distance), and head-direction cells (which function like an internal compass). Other topics Kemp explores include the effects of GPS on spatial memory and solitary confinement's devastating impacts on the navigational skills of incarcerated people. In addition to copious notes, the book includes two useful appendices. VERDICT Chock-full of scientific information conveyed by a skilled storyteller, Kemp's book is recommended for readers interested in the neurological differences between those who have an internal compass and those who get hopelessly lost.—Ragan O'Malley
Kirkus Reviews
2021-10-26
The latest knowledge on how we find our way.
Kemp, a molecular biologist specializing in neurodegenerative diseases, admits that he gets lost in his native city. So he admires virtuoso navigators, like his wife, who always know where they are. This short book delivers an expert education in how the brain guides us. As the author shows, it’s not a matter of intelligence; plenty of smart people lose their way. The key is memory, largely centralized in the hippocampus, a small structure deep inside the skull atop the brainstem that’s literally packed with cells vital to our sense of direction. Licensed London cab drivers, who must memorize every one of the city’s 25,000 streets, possess a hippocampus much larger than London bus drivers, who only memorize a single route. The first symptom of Alzheimer’s is not memory loss but inability to navigate. “Essentially,” writes Kemp, “navigation is…a seamless combination of sensory memory, and short-term and long-term memories spliced together, interpolated and intertwined with one another by the hippocampus and other related brain structures.” Early knowledge on the subject arose from studies of rats and mazes, and the Einstein of rat navigation was Edward Tolman. According to Kemp, Tolman’s 1948 paper, “Cognitive Maps in Rats and Men,” is a work that "should sit alongside other great scientific discoveries of the twentieth century.” Tolman’s rats did not memorize a series of turns to achieve their goal; rather, they built a cognitive map of the maze, which is not topologically accurate but superb for choosing a precise route. Except for two illustrations, Kemp relies on prose to explain a complex process involving dozens of structures and specialized neurons throughout the brain. Readers with a well-developed hippocampus will have an easier time, but everyone will appreciate the author’s stories of how some Indigenous cultures learn their territory (they get lost, too) and concluding sections on how to become a better navigator and how to behave if lost in the wild.
An intense lesson in the neuroscience of getting around.
