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Digital Audiobook
Finding North by George Michelsen Foy

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Finding North

Publisher
Tantor Media, Inc
Publish Date
10 May 2016
Run Time
7 hours 34 minutes
Format
Audiobook
$13.95

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What to expect

In 1844, George Michelsen Foy's great-great grandfather, captain of a Norwegian cargo ship, perished at sea after getting lost in a snowstorm. Foy decides to unravel the mystery surrounding Halvor Michelsen's death—and the roots of his own obsession with navigation—by re-creating his ancestor's trip using only period instruments.



Beforehand, he meets a colorful cast of characters to learn whether men really have better directional skills than women; how cells, eels, and spaceships navigate; and how tragedy results from GPS glitches. He interviews a cabby who has memorized every street in London, sails on a Haitian cargo sloop, and visits the site of a secret navigational cult in Greece.



At the heart of Foy's story is this fact: navigation and the brain's memory centers are inextricably linked. As Foy unravels the secret behind Halvor's death, he also discovers why forsaking our navigation skills in favor of GPS may lead not only to Alzheimer's and other diseases of memory, but to losing a key part of what makes us human.

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Details

Author
George Michelsen Foy
Narrator
Tom Zingarelli
Duration
7 hours 34 minutes
Release Date
10 May 2016
ISBN
9781515970163
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Tantor Media, Inc
Genre
Biography: general, Transport: general interest, Memoirs, Science: general issues, Travel guides: museums, historic sites, galleries etc, Navigation and seamanship, Travel and holiday, Travel and holiday guides

Synopsis

In 1844, George Michelsen Foy's great-great grandfather, captain of a Norwegian cargo ship, perished at sea after getting lost in a snowstorm. Foy decides to unravel the mystery surrounding Halvor Michelsen's death—and the roots of his own obsession with navigation—by re-creating his ancestor's trip using only period instruments.Beforehand, he meets a colorful cast of characters to learn whether men really have better directional skills than women; how cells, eels, and spaceships navigate; and how tragedy results from GPS glitches. He interviews a cabby who has memorized every street in London, sails on a Haitian cargo sloop, and visits the site of a secret navigational cult in Greece.At the heart of Foy's story is this fact: navigation and the brain's memory centers are inextricably linked. As Foy unravels the secret behind Halvor's death, he also discovers why forsaking our navigation skills in favor of GPS may lead not only to Alzheimer's and other diseases of memory, but to losing a key part of what makes us human.

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