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Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way
Publisher's note: Supernavigators was published in the UK under the title Incredible Journeys.
Animals plainly know where they’re going, but how they get there has remained surprisingly mysterious—until now.
In Supernavigators, award-winning author David Barrie catches us up on the cutting-edge science. Here are astounding animals of every stripe: Dung beetles that steer by the light of the Milky Way. Ants and bees that rely on patterns of light invisible to humans. Sea turtles and moths that find their way using Earth’s magnetic field. Humpback whales that swim thousands of miles while holding a rocksteady course. Birds that can locate their nests on a tiny island after crisscrossing an ocean.
The age of viewing animals as unthinking drones is over. As Supernavigators makes clear, a stunning array of species command senses and skills—and arguably, types of intelligence—beyond our own. Weaving together interviews with leading animal behaviorists and the groundbreaking discoveries of Nobel Prize–winning scientists, David Barrie reveals these wonders in a whole new light.
Animals plainly know where they’re going, but how they get there has remained surprisingly mysterious—until now.
In Supernavigators, award-winning author David Barrie catches us up on the cutting-edge science. Here are astounding animals of every stripe: Dung beetles that steer by the light of the Milky Way. Ants and bees that rely on patterns of light invisible to humans. Sea turtles and moths that find their way using Earth’s magnetic field. Humpback whales that swim thousands of miles while holding a rocksteady course. Birds that can locate their nests on a tiny island after crisscrossing an ocean.
The age of viewing animals as unthinking drones is over. As Supernavigators makes clear, a stunning array of species command senses and skills—and arguably, types of intelligence—beyond our own. Weaving together interviews with leading animal behaviorists and the groundbreaking discoveries of Nobel Prize–winning scientists, David Barrie reveals these wonders in a whole new light.
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First published May 28, 2019
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About the author
David Barrie
5 books27 followersI've been fascinated by the astonishing things that animals can do ever since I was a small boy.
It took more than three years to research and write my latest book - SUPERNAVIGATORS. I traveled around the world to interview the top scientists and observed cutting-edge experiments in progress.
SUPERNAVIGATORS is an exploration of the wonders of animal navigation, and it explains what we now know about how animals find their way around. It is packed with amazing discoveries, and raises important questions about our own place in the world - now that we rely so heavily on our electronic gadgets to tell us where we are.
SUPERNAVIGATORS is published in the US by The Experiment and in the UK by Hodder and Stoughton (under the title INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS).
My website - www.davidbarrieauthor.org - includes blog and vlog posts, as well as further information about me and my work.
You can follow me on Twitter @barrieauthor or on Instagram @authorbarrie
My last book, SEXTANT, was inspired by the life-changing experience of sailing across the Atlantic in the days before GPS had reduced navigation to a matter of pushing buttons. It is a hymn to the almost vanished art of fixing your position by the light of the sun and stars - with the aid of a sextant - an art on which mariners relied until only a generation ago. It also celebrates the incredibly brave and dedicated explorers who used the same technique to make the first accurate maps of the world's oceans.
Here’s a little bit about me:
I was brought up on the south coast of England where I learned to sail and fell in love with the traditional art of navigation. Since then I've sailed in many parts of the world - from British Columbia to the China Sea, and from the Hebrides to the Caribbean.
I have some background in the behavioral sciences having studied experimental psychology (and philosophy) at Oxford University. I’m also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation - Britain’s learned society for navigators.
My working life has been quite varied: the list of jobs includes deck hand, diplomat, intelligence analyst, arts administrator and criminal justice campaigner.
I'm married with two daughters and live in London. I also happen to be the great great nephew of J M Barrie, the author of PETER PAN, in case you’re interested!
It took more than three years to research and write my latest book - SUPERNAVIGATORS. I traveled around the world to interview the top scientists and observed cutting-edge experiments in progress.
SUPERNAVIGATORS is an exploration of the wonders of animal navigation, and it explains what we now know about how animals find their way around. It is packed with amazing discoveries, and raises important questions about our own place in the world - now that we rely so heavily on our electronic gadgets to tell us where we are.
SUPERNAVIGATORS is published in the US by The Experiment and in the UK by Hodder and Stoughton (under the title INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS).
My website - www.davidbarrieauthor.org - includes blog and vlog posts, as well as further information about me and my work.
You can follow me on Twitter @barrieauthor or on Instagram @authorbarrie
My last book, SEXTANT, was inspired by the life-changing experience of sailing across the Atlantic in the days before GPS had reduced navigation to a matter of pushing buttons. It is a hymn to the almost vanished art of fixing your position by the light of the sun and stars - with the aid of a sextant - an art on which mariners relied until only a generation ago. It also celebrates the incredibly brave and dedicated explorers who used the same technique to make the first accurate maps of the world's oceans.
Here’s a little bit about me:
I was brought up on the south coast of England where I learned to sail and fell in love with the traditional art of navigation. Since then I've sailed in many parts of the world - from British Columbia to the China Sea, and from the Hebrides to the Caribbean.
I have some background in the behavioral sciences having studied experimental psychology (and philosophy) at Oxford University. I’m also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation - Britain’s learned society for navigators.
My working life has been quite varied: the list of jobs includes deck hand, diplomat, intelligence analyst, arts administrator and criminal justice campaigner.
I'm married with two daughters and live in London. I also happen to be the great great nephew of J M Barrie, the author of PETER PAN, in case you’re interested!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
January 4, 2021
Psst! Wanna learn about the birds and the bees? Or, at least, about how these animals—and many others, from dung beetles to human beings—find their way around? If so, read on... because that is the subject of David Barrie's lively science popularization, Supernavigators.
You will learn a lot from this book, I suspect. I know I did. "Antarctic prions" (p.103) are real birds, for example, in the petrel family. And Barrie provides several examples of how "translocation"—the practice of moving animals elsewhere when they're in an inconvenient location for humans—often fails, specifically because of their incredible navigational abilities. (Which is a shame, of course, because for many people it's either ship 'em or shoot 'em.)
Barrie's wide-eyed and breathless prose is a good fit for his subject—Supernavigators really is lively and accessible, although it also comes across as a bit scatterbrained; his attention leaps about from example to example, usually covering two or three different animals' navigational systems per chapter.
Supernavigators contains fewer illustrations than I would have liked, too, although the ones that do appear (by noted illustrator Neil Gower) are illuminating—especially the maps that reveal what happens to their migration routes when insects, birds and other creatures are displaced in various ways.
And—and this is not a criticism, by the way—a whole lot of Supernavigators involves going over what we don't know (or don't know yet, anyway). Pretty much every one of this book's chapters ends with a mystery, one about which (as Barrie acknowledges explicitly is a cliché) "more research is needed."
The geographical nature of this typo, which I noticed very early in Supernavigators, did make me chuckle:
Although Supernavigators is well-salted with citations, I did have to wonder about the source of at least one assertion:
All in all, though, I found Supernavigators to be a fun and highly readable overview of the many ways animals (including humans) navigate.
And, to answer what is, I'm sure, your most burning question: yes, David Barrie is in fact distantly related to J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan... a character who was quite the aerial navigator himself!
You will learn a lot from this book, I suspect. I know I did. "Antarctic prions" (p.103) are real birds, for example, in the petrel family. And Barrie provides several examples of how "translocation"—the practice of moving animals elsewhere when they're in an inconvenient location for humans—often fails, specifically because of their incredible navigational abilities. (Which is a shame, of course, because for many people it's either ship 'em or shoot 'em.)
Barrie's wide-eyed and breathless prose is a good fit for his subject—Supernavigators really is lively and accessible, although it also comes across as a bit scatterbrained; his attention leaps about from example to example, usually covering two or three different animals' navigational systems per chapter.
Supernavigators contains fewer illustrations than I would have liked, too, although the ones that do appear (by noted illustrator Neil Gower) are illuminating—especially the maps that reveal what happens to their migration routes when insects, birds and other creatures are displaced in various ways.
And—and this is not a criticism, by the way—a whole lot of Supernavigators involves going over what we don't know (or don't know yet, anyway). Pretty much every one of this book's chapters ends with a mystery, one about which (as Barrie acknowledges explicitly is a cliché) "more research is needed."
The geographical nature of this typo, which I noticed very early in Supernavigators, did make me chuckle:
Maps (whether physical or mental) offer great advantages, not east the possibility of constructing shortcuts that can save valuable time and energy, or making detours to avoid hazards and obstacles.I didn't notice many typos in David Barrie's book, though. Far more prevalent are his witty observations, like this one about Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Karl von Frisch:
—p.xi
The men in white coats seem to have found it difficult to take seriously the claims of a man who strode around the Alpine meadows wearing lederhosen. Perhaps their skepticism was tinged with envy.
—p.44
Although Supernavigators is well-salted with citations, I did have to wonder about the source of at least one assertion:
When the power supply to Los Angeles was knocked out by an earthquake in 1994, the sight of a truly dark night sky was so unfamiliar that many residents called the emergency services, anxiously reporting a strange "giant, silvery cloud" in the sky. Were aliens about to land? No, but it was something they had never seen before: the Milky Way!My wife and I were actually living in L.A. at the time, and we went through the Northridge quake Barrie's talking about... but I don't remember anyone being worried about the sky. Maybe we were atypical. But the citation for this one also comes from 2009... fifteen years after the quake. I would have liked to have seen a more contemporaneous reference.
—p.67
All in all, though, I found Supernavigators to be a fun and highly readable overview of the many ways animals (including humans) navigate.
And, to answer what is, I'm sure, your most burning question: yes, David Barrie is in fact distantly related to J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan... a character who was quite the aerial navigator himself!
April 7, 2021
Navigation. Wie orientieren sich Tiere in der Welt? Warum können Vögel bis zu 9.000 Kilometer von A nach B und über den Ozean fliegen und dabei exakt dort ankommen, wo sie hinwollten? Haben sie einen inneren Kompass, orientieren sie sich am Magnetfeld oder am Himmelsbild? Diese Fragen klärt David Barrie. Hier wird der innere Kompass von Insekten, Vögeln, Walen und Schildkröten erklärt.
Am Ende des Buches wird auch nochmal auf die Fähigkeiten der Menschen eingegangen und wie die modernen Hilfsmittel unsere Navigationsfähigkeiten immer weiter verschlechtern.
Am Ende des Buches wird auch nochmal auf die Fähigkeiten der Menschen eingegangen und wie die modernen Hilfsmittel unsere Navigationsfähigkeiten immer weiter verschlechtern.
June 3, 2019
There are few non-human animal mental feats harder for us to comprehend than navigation. And so, there are few better ways to contemplate how little we know of how other species experience the world than through reading about navigational feats of pigeons, dung beetles and salmon. Barrie brings plenty of wonder to this broad survey of animal navigation.
This is one of three books dealing with navigation released in as many months - with the others being Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World and Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia. Between them they paint a picture of the complexity, and diversity, of ways that we purposefully move through the world.
Incredible journeys is not focused on humans, but instead examines the range of different methods used to measure position and correct. It highlights the paucity of equipment we have in comparison to others, particularly birds and fish. Magnetic sensitivity, the capacity to perceive polarised light (and from it calculate the angle of the sun to the earth), acute sense of smell and prodigious location memory abound in nature, and Barrie explains every one.
At times, this breadth comes at the cost of depth and context - Barrie's comments on Australia display a reliance on stereotype over accuracy at times, for example, and I assume this is true of other areas - but as a survey of existing understanding, it is well worth reading.
This is one of three books dealing with navigation released in as many months - with the others being Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World and Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia. Between them they paint a picture of the complexity, and diversity, of ways that we purposefully move through the world.
Incredible journeys is not focused on humans, but instead examines the range of different methods used to measure position and correct. It highlights the paucity of equipment we have in comparison to others, particularly birds and fish. Magnetic sensitivity, the capacity to perceive polarised light (and from it calculate the angle of the sun to the earth), acute sense of smell and prodigious location memory abound in nature, and Barrie explains every one.
At times, this breadth comes at the cost of depth and context - Barrie's comments on Australia display a reliance on stereotype over accuracy at times, for example, and I assume this is true of other areas - but as a survey of existing understanding, it is well worth reading.
November 18, 2019
David Barrie has compiled an interesting and accessible survey of the studies done to elucidate the variety of techniques (and combinations thereof) used by organisms (everything from dung beetles, fish and birds, to humans and whales) to find their way about - both short range navigation and longer migrational navigation. The chapter dealing with the effects of the built environment on other creatures, as well as the use of our new navigation technology is especially interesting. The chapters are short and each one has an "epilogue" which is usually interesting, sometimes pithy, or just provides something to think about. Some topics are covered more superficially than others, and I would have liked to have read more about the actual biological basis of these animals wayfinding ability, but none-the-less, a fascinating book.
September 21, 2019
I found it disappointing overall. I was so excited for this book after hearing the speaker interviewed (and taking call in questions too) on NPR. But the book probably spent 2/3 of its pages on insects. The majority of the remainder was on birds. Now I understand that those bugs and birds are the "supernavigators", but honestly, at some point it got incredibly boring to hear about ants again. How about how do dogs find their way home from being lost hundreds of miles away? How do wolves and mountain lions have territories that they know the exact boundaries of over miles and miles? How do people naviagate for goodness sake? And why are some people so good at it and others so poor? So...I realize that I am being mammal centric here but it is a book review, and I think for the average reader the bugs and birds should be a third. Not a one star though, because until I became bored with the repetition it was interesting.
March 7, 2021
Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way by David Barrie documents the research uncovering fascinating insights on the navigation of animals, especially insects and birds. Although Barrie does mention larger animals, like crocodiles and elephants, he admits their navigational tools remain a mystery.
Barrie describes in detail the research and various experiments designed to uncover the mystery of insect and bird navigation. He cites specific scientists and credits their work. He also shows how subsequent scientists stand on the shoulders of previous scientists, building on their research and passing the baton to their successors as in a relay race. What emerges are some intriguing insights on animal navigation.
Research demonstrates animals have a cornucopia of navigational tools at their disposal. These include navigation by the sun, moon, stars, and Milky Way; by sound, sight, smell; by the perception of polarized light; by memory; and by imprinting. Animals even have the ability to detect subtle variations on the intensity, inclination, and declination of the earth’s geomagnetic field through the presence of light-stimulated molecules that can detect their orientation in relation to earth’s magnetic field. Bumble bees communicate with each other through a wiggly dance that alerts other bees to the presence of food, its location, and its quality. Dung beetles navigate by storing an image of the positions of the sun, moon, stars, and Milky Way, and using the image as their guide. The salmon, turtle, and lobster are among the animals that use the earth’s magnetic field to perform complex feats of navigation. Birds fly thousands of miles over the ocean to find their way home. And ants have the apparent ability to find their way home by counting their own footsteps.
Berry provides copious examples of animal navigational skills and includes the occasional example of human navigational skills for good measure. He immerses himself in the topic, frequently joining scientist on research expeditions. His excitement at discovering nuances of animal behavior or at proving a hypothesis is contagious. Above all, he communicates his wonder at the ability of these super navigators to find their way.
Included are diagrams and sketches, an extensive bibliography, detailed notes for each chapter, and an index. Each chapter ends with a brief anecdote that tells of an animal’s amazing feat of navigation to find its way home. How the animal does it remains a mystery. As he succinctly phrases it, “More research is needed.” His final chapter laments the atrophy of humanity’s navigational skills due to our reliance on technology. And he concludes with words of caution about our anthropocentrism. He argues if we learn more about animals and how we are all interconnected, we will see the urgency of protecting the rich and varied life forms on our planet.
A very accessible and enlightening exploration of how bees, ants, beetles, butterflies, fish, birds, and humans navigate their way around the world.
My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com
Barrie describes in detail the research and various experiments designed to uncover the mystery of insect and bird navigation. He cites specific scientists and credits their work. He also shows how subsequent scientists stand on the shoulders of previous scientists, building on their research and passing the baton to their successors as in a relay race. What emerges are some intriguing insights on animal navigation.
Research demonstrates animals have a cornucopia of navigational tools at their disposal. These include navigation by the sun, moon, stars, and Milky Way; by sound, sight, smell; by the perception of polarized light; by memory; and by imprinting. Animals even have the ability to detect subtle variations on the intensity, inclination, and declination of the earth’s geomagnetic field through the presence of light-stimulated molecules that can detect their orientation in relation to earth’s magnetic field. Bumble bees communicate with each other through a wiggly dance that alerts other bees to the presence of food, its location, and its quality. Dung beetles navigate by storing an image of the positions of the sun, moon, stars, and Milky Way, and using the image as their guide. The salmon, turtle, and lobster are among the animals that use the earth’s magnetic field to perform complex feats of navigation. Birds fly thousands of miles over the ocean to find their way home. And ants have the apparent ability to find their way home by counting their own footsteps.
Berry provides copious examples of animal navigational skills and includes the occasional example of human navigational skills for good measure. He immerses himself in the topic, frequently joining scientist on research expeditions. His excitement at discovering nuances of animal behavior or at proving a hypothesis is contagious. Above all, he communicates his wonder at the ability of these super navigators to find their way.
Included are diagrams and sketches, an extensive bibliography, detailed notes for each chapter, and an index. Each chapter ends with a brief anecdote that tells of an animal’s amazing feat of navigation to find its way home. How the animal does it remains a mystery. As he succinctly phrases it, “More research is needed.” His final chapter laments the atrophy of humanity’s navigational skills due to our reliance on technology. And he concludes with words of caution about our anthropocentrism. He argues if we learn more about animals and how we are all interconnected, we will see the urgency of protecting the rich and varied life forms on our planet.
A very accessible and enlightening exploration of how bees, ants, beetles, butterflies, fish, birds, and humans navigate their way around the world.
My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com
December 2, 2019
The audio version of this book is s o o s l o w, that it is painful. Unfortunately, the speaking pattern is such that speeding it up makes it unintelligible. Additionally, even though there are some interesting tidbits, the writing is uneven and unorganized with a strange mixture of scientific terms and "dumbing it down for the populace" approach. It's good bad, as the author seems knowledgable in this interesting topic.
September 5, 2025
We are so so lucky to live on this planet amongst nature’s incredible creatures! Super interesting but a bit info overload so took it slow. Learnt a lot and I need to use my GPS less :)
December 4, 2024
Un libro muy riguroso, con ejemplos que aborda realmente sorprendentes, así que por ese lado es una maravilla.
Ahora, a pesar de la buena calidad del contenido, el libro se me ha hecho pesado, y no por el tema ni por ser demasiado complicado lo en el narrado —que, no nos llamemos a engaños, en ocasiones hay conceptos farragosos y complicados que están muy bien descritos—, pero no he conectado con la forma de expresarse el narrador.
Aun así, creo que es un libro muy recomendable.
Ahora, a pesar de la buena calidad del contenido, el libro se me ha hecho pesado, y no por el tema ni por ser demasiado complicado lo en el narrado —que, no nos llamemos a engaños, en ocasiones hay conceptos farragosos y complicados que están muy bien descritos—, pero no he conectado con la forma de expresarse el narrador.
Aun así, creo que es un libro muy recomendable.
December 24, 2019
This was around a 3.5 for me. While the information was well researched and interesting, parts of it felt repetitive. I would have enjoyed more information on various mammals, rather than most of the focus on birds, reptiles, insects and fish (although I understand the focus, as that is the author's areas of interest). The author makes two powerful points at the end: if we don't use our navigational skills and stop paying attention solely to GPS, we will lose that skill; and we are affecting the habitats and navigational abilities of many species due to our behavior towards the earth.
March 14, 2025
This book was absolutely fascinating! I loved every minute of it. David Barrie made the book easy enough to understand the science of animal navigation without talking down to the audience. I would read this book in small bits because it's a lot of information you will want to retain!
April 5, 2021
one of the great mysteries of the world to me is how some animals navigate their way around the world . I am not talking about cats wandering around the neighbourhood and getting back home through the cat flap but about sea turtles as adults that return to the beach where they were born to lay their own eggs and and commence the cycle again . Salmon also return tto the stream that they were born in . The migration of birds for instance from wintery Europe to South Africa to get their towels on the sun lounger is another example . The distances that these animals cover and why and how they navigate are remarkable .
I bought the book to find out more .
Unfortunately the arrangement of the book is all over the place and each chapter ends with a seemingly random example of an animal and navigation which is more based on conjecture than evidence . There is throughout an uneasy mix between science and research and some more chatty biography of the lives of the researchers . There is also rather a lot of research about ants .
My main disappointment is that despite 300 odd pages and umpteen pages of bibliography the science has completely failed where the animals naturally succeed . The turtle navigates home instinctively but despite all the experiments and analysis and conjecture about whether they use smell , the earth's magnetic field , the milky way or astronomy , the navigational skills of some animals let alone why they embark on their journeys in the first place remains a complete mystery .
This is reassuring .
Don't follow the science !
I bought the book to find out more .
Unfortunately the arrangement of the book is all over the place and each chapter ends with a seemingly random example of an animal and navigation which is more based on conjecture than evidence . There is throughout an uneasy mix between science and research and some more chatty biography of the lives of the researchers . There is also rather a lot of research about ants .
My main disappointment is that despite 300 odd pages and umpteen pages of bibliography the science has completely failed where the animals naturally succeed . The turtle navigates home instinctively but despite all the experiments and analysis and conjecture about whether they use smell , the earth's magnetic field , the milky way or astronomy , the navigational skills of some animals let alone why they embark on their journeys in the first place remains a complete mystery .
This is reassuring .
Don't follow the science !
March 12, 2019
This book offers a fascinating glimpse into the methods and theories behind different ways of natural navigation. If you've ever wondered how racing pigeons find their way home - and doubt the magnetic field theory in favour of something more outlandish such as scent or sound - then this book is full of intriguing gems and is perfect for dipping in and out of.
If you have a particular love for lepidoptera, then you'll be delighted to find not just monarch butterflies here, but painted ladies too, along with silver 'Y' and bogong moths. The last of which I'd never heard of but was absolutely engrossed by as they travel over a thousand kilometres every spring, avoiding the heat of a Queensland summer by seeking mountain caves.
Other more usual suspects also appear - dung beetles, sea turtles, various seabirds, bees, whales, salmons and ants - and of course humans. Some of the scientific methods seem awful to modern eyes, but the incredible ingenuity and persistence of the animals in question continuously shines through. Along with modern humans' general ineptitude. Nature finds a way, and if you find nature fascinating, then there should be plenty for you to enjoy here.
(ARC provided by the publisher via Amazon Vine.)
If you have a particular love for lepidoptera, then you'll be delighted to find not just monarch butterflies here, but painted ladies too, along with silver 'Y' and bogong moths. The last of which I'd never heard of but was absolutely engrossed by as they travel over a thousand kilometres every spring, avoiding the heat of a Queensland summer by seeking mountain caves.
Other more usual suspects also appear - dung beetles, sea turtles, various seabirds, bees, whales, salmons and ants - and of course humans. Some of the scientific methods seem awful to modern eyes, but the incredible ingenuity and persistence of the animals in question continuously shines through. Along with modern humans' general ineptitude. Nature finds a way, and if you find nature fascinating, then there should be plenty for you to enjoy here.
(ARC provided by the publisher via Amazon Vine.)
September 28, 2020
I think the book would have been more thoughtfully organized in a different way with the main topics related to polarization, magnetism, internal compass, light/dark, etc. in which Barrie could teach me the basics of these concepts and then give me explanations of how specific animals use that feature and how scientists came to discover it. I say this because I felt like the book could have been shortened since it seemed repetitive when the same points kept being made as specific animals (mainly birds and insects but generally more scattered about in the book) in almost each chapter. Yes, it reinforced it, but it felt circuitous. Plus you had the italicized "extra helping" at the end of each chapter that could have been more artfully added into the main text.
Regardless of my frustration with the general organizational format, I still am always fascinated by animals in so many respects that books like these are always brain food for me and I'll never stop reading them. This provided another lens and layer to my understanding that I'm appreciative of.
Regardless of my frustration with the general organizational format, I still am always fascinated by animals in so many respects that books like these are always brain food for me and I'll never stop reading them. This provided another lens and layer to my understanding that I'm appreciative of.
November 4, 2022
This book was informative and an enjoyable read. I particularly appreciate the descriptions of experimental designs and potential pitfalls.
I did not rate this higher because the organization of the chapters was odd and often jarring. The majority of a chapter would be dedicated to a discussion of a particular animal or mode of navigation and then the last 10% repeatedly digressed into something tangentially related at best. For example, the chapter about cognitive maps and the role of the hippocampus in humans ends with scent based navigation in elephants. These short deviations often left me wanting more information, only to find that we were jumping to something new in the next chapter which was unsatisfying.
I did not rate this higher because the organization of the chapters was odd and often jarring. The majority of a chapter would be dedicated to a discussion of a particular animal or mode of navigation and then the last 10% repeatedly digressed into something tangentially related at best. For example, the chapter about cognitive maps and the role of the hippocampus in humans ends with scent based navigation in elephants. These short deviations often left me wanting more information, only to find that we were jumping to something new in the next chapter which was unsatisfying.
November 6, 2019
While listening to this book I would have rated it 3/5 but the last chapter bumped it to a 4/5. The last chapter is a must read for all. If we don't change our anthropomorphic approach to the world, we will have nothing to leave for our children. The author covers the navigational skills of a range of animals including humans. Many of the studies are boring but their implications are fascinating. Read just the last chapter if that's all the time you have.
March 3, 2021
I only finished about a third of this book. I think I would pick it up again but it feels more like a book I would want to pick up now and again and digest a chapter. It’s kind of hard to just read it like you would a novel. Really interesting facts about navigations patterns of animals.
July 26, 2025
very in depth, to the extent that it was challenging to read and truly process all the information. But i found it interesting nevertheless and im glad i finally went back and finished reading the book
January 22, 2023
Fascinating.
December 15, 2023
Beautiful little book! I learned a lot!!
November 10, 2024
An eye-opening story of intelligence in nature that we humans rarely observe and understand even less.
An excellent read!!
An excellent read!!
May 9, 2025
A few great chapters in the second half of the book but it leaves a lot to be desired.
February 26, 2023
This book opened up the world of animal navigation to me. Thought I understood how ants find their way around, but was further off than a human lost in the woods. And that's just the ant!
A thoroughly enjoyable and informative read.
A thoroughly enjoyable and informative read.
January 12, 2024
A funny, emotional and informative account of animal navigation and how we came to understand it. Very enjoyable read.
March 18, 2021
The narrator has a fantastic voice and I was fascinated by the information in this book but it is not one to read on a long car ride. The information can put you to sleep so I had to take it in small doses. I would have liked a summary on the findings of each chapter since it was hard to wade through all of the scientific experiments to find conclusions. Again, the content was interesting. However, the summary was offensive. All this great research on navigational abilities of animals and the summary was focused on those who are still uneducated enough to believe the Bible over scientific evidence and politicians in the US who don't believe in global warming.
August 4, 2019
This was a book about how animals find their way home
November 23, 2019
I’m not sure I passed the threshold of having “read” this book, reaching around the 50% mark. It was fine, but quite unremarkable. There are so many non-fiction books for the lay reader on advanced topics which are masterfully written, that this pales due to its mediocrity. I really was interested in the concepts, but it just didn’t work. I wonder if, instead of the very brief animal-based chapters, the book would have been better served by longer, topic-focussed chapters, such as olfactory, magnetic etc.
Ultimately, an interesting topic, handled in an passable fashion.
Ultimately, an interesting topic, handled in an passable fashion.
February 25, 2019
A fascinating read about how animals are able to find their way utilizing a variety of means. Whether by smelling their way home, reading the magnetic field of the earth, reading visual landmarks or hearing their way.
May 29, 2019
Interesting book about the mysteries of animal navigation, but also a rather disturbing look at a lot of research that harms animals to try and figure out how they work.
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