A gripping personal and scientific odyssey to discover how humans navigate landscape, life, emotions, memory - and everything else.
George Michelsen Foy is the author of Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence and twelve critically acclaimed novels. He was a recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship in fiction and his articles, reviews, and stories have been published by Rolling Stone, the Boston Globe, Harper's, the New York Times, and Men's Journal, among others. He teaches creative writing at NYU and is married with two children. Foy divides his time between coastal Massachusetts and New York.
GPS's cultural and psychological significance is at the core of
George Michelsen Foy's Finding North...[and] the questions he
worries at are important ones. --The Wall Street Journal A
well-told tale, one that makes you grateful for what we have to
guide us today as well as the power of the great outdoors. --Travel
+ Leisure Foy's strongest moments happen when he taps into the
internal map, through his own personal, sensory-based history with
a particular place...[a] great storyteller. --Outside Deep waters
and deep thoughts fill these pages. With skillful prose and
insight, Foy's account of the different aspects of navigation packs
a powerful punch. --Publishers Weekly [Foy's] exploration of loss
leads to a consideration of the process by which we make our way to
a stage of renewal and growth...[a] fascinating look at past and
present navigation." --Booklist Armchair sailors will enjoy the
vicarious thrills of Foy's brief journeys, and even those with no
intentions of abandoning their smartphones will find something to
ponder in his speculations about the challenges of gadget-free
navigation. --Kirkus Reviews A fascinating and sobering look at how
partaking of the fruit of easy GPS navigation may be changing
ourselves in ways we don't fully realize. --Ocean Navigator
I highly recommend this excellent book. --Bruce Albertson, The
Ensign magazine "Finding North takes readers on a journey around
the world and deep into the nature of ?how humans find their way
around. It's a voyage that is both personal and expansive,
exploring how navigation works and its meaning in people's lives."
--Andrew Johnston, author of Time and Navigation and Earth from
Space
"With engaging and personal prose, George Michelsen Foy explores
the history, natural history, and--most critically--the vital
importance for us today of navigation. In an age when we too often
rely on technology to tell us where we are and where we're going,
Foy's compelling story asks at what cost? What do we lose when we
allow our skills of navigation--earned through centuries of finding
our way in a wild and sometimes foreboding world--to fade? As we
careen further into a century of global change, Foy shows how in a
world of 'mystery and fear, and the near certainty of loss, ' we
will need these skills of navigation more than ever. --Paul Bogard,
author of The End of Night
"George Foy frames his story of the history and practice of
navigation with a hazardous personal sea voyage in a ship that
might not be in good enough repair to make the trip. It's a
wonderful device which he also uses to chart a difficult
navigational path through his inner world--his seafaring ancestors;
the tragic loss of his brother; his family; and his fears. And all
of this is delivered in sensible, warm, and intelligent prose.
Voyagers of all kinds will cherish this book?." --Paul Raeburn,
author of The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting and Do Fathers
Matter? "Anyone who's ever charted a course - or dreamt of
traveling to the stars - will enjoy Finding North." --WindCheck
Magazine
"Foy takes us on an adventure... Instead of forcing us into a trap
of hate and obsession he leads us gently with good humor upon a
passage lit by compassion. This is another lesson in navigation: To
find our way we cannot succumb to monomania. Navigation incites and
inspires us to take everything into account. And, as Foy
demonstrates, this requires us to do the difficult thing whenever
it resonates with the needle of our compass. At such times what is
hard is not a chore. It is a vessel for joy." --Horizons of
Significance
"Informative [and] well written... I recommend [Finding North] to
anybody having a bit of interest in navigation, amateurs or
professionals; it takes you to places you didn't expect and at the
same time makes your recognize other subjects... Well done!"
--Dutch Mariner
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