A Wired Most Fascinating Book of the Year “An important book that reminds us that navigation remains one of our most underappreciated arts.” —Tristan Gooley, author of The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs “If you want to understand what rats can teach us about better-planned cities, why walking into a different room can help you find your car keys, or how your brain’s grid, border, and speed cells combine to give us a sense of direction, this book has all the answers.” —The Scotsman How is it that some of us can walk unfamiliar streets without losing our way, while the rest of us struggle even with a GPS? Navigating in uncharted territory is a remarkable feat if you stop to think about it. In this beguiling mix of science and storytelling, Michael Bond explores how we do it: how our brains make the “cognitive maps” that keep us orientated and how that anchors our sense of wellbeing. Children are instinctive explorers, developing a spatial understanding as they roam. And yet today few of us make use of the wayfinding skills that we inherited from our nomadic ancestors. Bond tells stories of the lost and found—sailors, orienteering champions, early aviators—and explores why being lost can be such a devastating experience. He considers how our understanding of the world around us affects our psychology and helps us see how our reliance on technology may be changing who we are. “Bond concludes that, by setting aside our GPS devices, by redesigning parts of our cities and play areas, and sometimes just by letting ourselves get lost, we can indeed revivify our ability to find our way, to the benefit of our inner world no less than the outer one.” —Science “A thoughtful argument about how our ability to find our way is integral to our nature.” —Sunday Times

The Map from Here to There is an unforgettable story of identity and the companion novel to the stellar The Start of Me and You, which was a Zoella Book Club pick for WHSmith. It's senior year, and Paige Hancock is finally living her best life. She has a fun summer job, great friends, and a super charming boyfriend who totally gets her. But senior year also means big decisions. Feeling the weight of 'the rest of her life' Paige starts to panic. Everything is exactly how she always wanted it to be – how can she leave it all behind next year? In her head, she knows there is so much more to life after high school. But in her heart, is it so terrible to want everything to stay the same forever? Emery Lord's signature storytelling shines with lovable characters and heartfelt exploration of life's most important questions. There will be break-ups, make-ups, a road trip, and even a wedding. Through it all, can Paige figure out what happens in the after part of happily ever after? Fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jennifer Niven and Nicola Yoon should look no further than this unforgettable story of friendship and connection.

Discusses various aspects of maps including direction, distance, symbols, latitude, and longitude, how maps are made, special purpose maps, and charts.

Sean Jackson has been illustrating and exploring mazes for his own enjoyment for more than 30 years. Inspired by art, architecture, and the natural world, his colorfully detailed mazes offer imaginative and meditative journeys through village streets, garden vistas, island habitats, castle grounds, scenic towns, and gravity-defying surreal situations—each encouraging the mind to wander while following the paths. This large-format collection features nearly 50 absorbing single-page and full-spread mazes, sequenced with increasing complexity, and includes inventive bonuses such as mazes with two paths to follow and a maze that runs on the inside covers from front to back. Solutions are provided, but for those seeking mindful activity or hours of puzzle decoding entertainment, getting there will be half the fun.

From Here to There celebrates these ephemeral documents--usually forgotten or tossed aside after having served their purpose--giving them their due as artifacts representing stories from people's lives around the world. There is the young woman suffering from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis who created maps of the Humira injections on her stomach and thighs to help her remember the sites, and give them time to heal. Or the young boy who imagined a whole country for ants and put it to paper. Lucas from Australia drew an obsessively detailed map of his local traffic island, and a teenage girl contributed a map of her high school locker. Two American tourists got lost in the Bulgarian mountains following the hand drawn map of a local, and Britanny from Denmark drew directions to an animal rights protest in Copenhagen. The maps featured in From Here to There are as varied and touching as the stories they tell.

Bridges are some of the most fascinating structures in our landscape, and they come in all forms. From towering suspension bridges to humble stone crossings, this book visits them all in sweet, bouncing text with expository sidebars. But while bridges can be quite grand, this reminds us that their main purpose is bringing people together. This is perfect for budding architects, as well as readers who can relate to having loved ones who live far away.

A young boy, Ivan, experiences the early stages of his parents’ separation and finds hope in the beauty and music of nature. This tale of personal growth will provide a much-needed mirror for children in times of change -- and an important reminder for all that there’s beauty everywhere you look.