Description: The unexplored history of GPS, a military technology turned daily necessity that impacts all aspects of our lives.
Brief description: Katherine Dunn is a business reporter and editor based in London. She has worked at Fortune magazine, S&P Global, The Wall Street Journal/ Dow Jones and the Reuters Institute at Oxford University, where she contributed to the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, an international network to help improve climate journalism worldwide. This is her first book.
Review Quotes:
"Riveting . . . a fascinating account of a singular technology that changed humanity's relationship to the world." --Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Compelling . . . climate journalist Dunn traces the improbable evolution of GPS from secret wartime radio experiments to the invisible infrastructure that guides modern life . . . Engaging, reflective, and accessible, this is a lively, appealing history of the ubiquitous locating system and the fragility behind its reassuring bluedot." --Library Journal "Dunn's clear explanations of advanced concepts make this book accessible to nonscientific readers. Her deft integration of the stories of the many fascinating people who contributed to the development of GPS adds an engaging and important human element to the narrative. Final chapters about efforts to counter surprising security issues make this a timely book about current events in addition to a history." --Booklist "Little Blue Dot offers a concise, popular history of the development of a technology that has become deeply integrated into nearly all aspects of our lives . . . Dunn provides a warning about how vulnerable GPS is and, by extension, how vulnerable we are. . . Dunn makes clear that GPS was developed, improved, promoted, and implemented by scores of people. She takes particular interest in lesser-sung heroes." --The American Scholar "It's the invisible network that runs our world. The story of the Global Positioning System is the story of modern life itself. In Little Blue Dot, Katherine Dunn tells the explosive, untold history of the twentieth century's most important technology. A gripping narrative of spies, scientists, and the secret history of how we came to map the world. You'll never look at that little blue dot the same way again." --Bradley Hope, co-author of BILLION DOLLAR WHALE and BLOOD AND OIL "The story of how you came to have, in your pocket, a way of knowing where you are, wherever you are, is an epic of human ingenuity. With pace, verve, and an eye for an illuminating anecdote, Katherine Dunn is the perfect guide to the greatest revolution in navigation since the age of sail." --Tom Whipple, Science Writer and Special Correspondent at The Times