Pinpoint - by Greg Milner (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>"The story of GPS, a scientific marvel that enables almost all modern technology--but is changing us in profound ways."--Amazon.com.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>Over the last fifty years, humanity has developed an extraordinary shared utility: the Global Positioning System. Even as it guides us across town, GPS helps land planes, route mobile calls, anticipate earthquakes, predict weather, locate oil deposits, measure neutrinos, grow our food, and regulate global finance. It is as ubiquitous and essential as another Cold War technology, the Internet. In <em>Pinpoint</em>, Greg Milner takes us on a fascinating tour of a hidden system that touches almost every aspect of our modern life.</p><p>While GPS has brought us breathtakingly accurate information about our planetary environment and physical space, it has also created new forms of human behavior. We have let it saturate the world's systems so completely and so quickly that we are just beginning to confront the possible consequences. A single GPS timing flaw, whether accidental or malicious, could bring down the electrical grid, hijack drones, or halt the world financial system. The use, and potential misuse, of GPS data by government and corporations raise disturbing questions about ethics and privacy. GPS may be altering the nature of human cognition--possibly even rearranging the gray matter in our heads.</p><p><em>Pinpoint</em> tells the sweeping story of GPS from its conceptual origins as a bomb guidance system to its presence in almost everything we do. Milner examines the different ways humans have understood physical space, delves into the neuroscience of cognitive maps, and questions GPS's double-edged effect on our culture. A fascinating and original story of the scientific urge toward precision, <em>Pinpoint</em> offers startling insight into how humans understand their place in the world.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>[An] entirely brilliant history of that most loved-and-loathed new technology, GPS. Every page was a treasure-house of fascinations: my temptation after finishing was to begin the book all over again, there being so much to absorb, all of it crucially important to understanding our world's dependence on one of modern civilization's new-made fundamentals.--Simon Winchester<br><br>[Milner] delves deep into the dense web of intersections between GPS--'the world's only free utility'--and all those other utilities we vitally depend on, with interesting side excursions into earthquake-detection and the GPS-assisted monitoring of offenders.<br><br>A compelling exploration of how GPS became so ubiquitous--and what we lose when it's all we know of navigation.<br><br>Fascinating...Milner expertly deconstructs the implications of this monumental shift in human life.--Tim Adams<br><br>Gripping...GPS is an engineering marvel, a global utility and a source of new threat all at once.<br><br>GPS guides our world. Here at last is the amazing and well-told story of where it came from, how it works, and where it--and we--are going.--Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Energy<br><br>Milner is a brisk and funny guide.--Konstantin Kakaes<br><br>Milner's detailed examples will leave you questioning the ways in which GPS has infiltrated our lives.<br><br>[A] compelling exploration of how GPS became so ubiquitous--and what we lose when it's all we know of navigation.--Matthew Daddona (04/28/2016)<br>
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