You Are Here - by Colin Ellard (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published as: Where am I? Toronto: HarperCollins, 2009.

Book Synopsis

An eye-opening exploration of the intriguing and often counter-intuitive science of human navigation and experience of place.

In the age of GPS and iPhones, human beings it would seem have mastered the art of direction, but does the need for these devices signal something else--that as a species we are actually hopelessly lost. In fact we've filled our world with signs and arrows. We still get lost in the mall, or a maze of cubicles. What does this say about us? Drawing on his exhaustive research, Professor Collin Ellard illuminates how humans are disconnected from our world and what this means, not just for how we get from A to B, but also for how we construct our cities, our workplaces, our homes, and even our lives.

Review Quotes

"[A] smart, deeply satisfying exploration of how creatures from insects to humans handle the complexities of physical space." -The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Delightfully lucid. . . . Ellard has a knack for distilling obscure scientific theories into practical wisdom."--Jonah Lehrer, New York Times Book Review

"One of the finest science writers I've ever read. . . . . It's fun, pure fun."--Los Angeles Times

"[A] fascinating . . . rundown of the processes involved in keeping us and other animals moving in the right direction." --The Globe and Mail

About the Author

Colin Ellard is an experimental psychologist at the University of Waterloo, the director of its Research Laboratory for Immersive Virtual Environments, and an international expert in the psychology of navigation. The results of his research have been published in scientific journals for more than twenty years. Ellard lives in, and regularly gets lost in, Kitchener, Ontario.