Directional Sense: How to
Find Your Way Around
by Janet R. Carpman and Myron A. Grant
Published by Institute for Human Centered Design
2011, 326 pages, $25.00
Were you born with no sense of direction?
Does the mere thought of navigating twisting hospital corridors,
deciphering cryptic expressway signs, or fumbling with cumbersome
maps fill your heart with dread?
If so, you need this trusty guidebook
which explains that finding your way around is a learnable skill,
not a mysterious instinct you’re doomed to live without.
A lighthearted
introduction to the ins and outs of wayfinding, it provides step by
step guides to following signs, reading maps, recognizing landmarks,
using GPS devices, and more. Along with anecdotes describing how
everyone gets lost at times, and photos showing how being turned
around is not always your fault, Directional Sense offers a wealth
of practical advice to help you confidently get from here to
there
. . . and back.
Directional Sense
covers these topics and more:
- Everyone Gets Lost
- Navigating from Here to There
- Born with No Internal Compass
- Deciphering Wayfinding Words and Numbers
- Comprehending Spatial Layouts
- Reading Maps
- Following Signs
- Recognizing Landmarks
- Asking Directions
- Taking Advantage of Everyday Wayfinding Technology
- Using Good Directional Sense
Advance praise:
"Lo and behold,
we directionally challenged people (and there are many of us) can learn
wayfinding skills -- with a little practice -- and gain more control
in unfamiliar places. It’s a big, complex world out there, but this
book helps us take heart and find our way through it."
— Rebecca Kilgore, jazz vocalist and frequent traveler
"Anyone who has ever been late
for an appointment, missed a flight, or stood up a date because
they lost their way will find both solace and instruction in
this terrific book. It's chock full of fascinating facts,
amusing stories, and practical information to help wayward
travelers of all stripes."
— Colin Ellard, author of You Are Here:
Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall
"The authors understand
what it is like not to know your way around and to feel anxious
about it. They take me (and you) step by patient step through
each skill needed for traveling around everyday places. . .
For directionally challenged people, this book shows not only
the light at the end of the tunnel, but how to get to and
through the tunnel itself."
— Richard Saul Wurman, founder of TED Conferences, author of Information Anxiety
"In highlighting
the interdependency of maps, signage, and spatial planning,
Directional Sense offers priceless insights for architects,
interior designers, and map makers. It’s also a fascinating
read for travelers and others who routinely navigate unfamiliar
landscapes, indoors or out. And as a comprehensive (and subtly
subversive) guide to design flaws and their consequences, it
challenges the perpetrators to shape up or get lost."
—
Mark Monmonier, author of How to Lie with Maps
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