You Are Here
By Hiawatha Bray
How did navigation evolve from looking up at the stars to punching an address into Google Maps? Journalist Bray covers a wide swath of the history of how we find ourselves, from early cartographers to the birth of Foursquare. Much of the engaging read traces the evolution of military technology, from radar to GPS and spy satellites, weaving in tales of the mapmakers, inventors and scientists behind the discoveries. But Bray also raises thoughtful questions: How do we weigh the value of locational technology, which can tell us where we are at any time, against the privacy concern that government and corporations know where we are all the time? — Dave Lee
Infinitesimal
By Amir Alexander
The principle of “infinitesimals” — the possibly infinite, hypothetical, indivisible points that populate a geometric line — underlies calculus and much of our modern technology, from airplanes to ...
