The lost art of giving directions
Renee Loth has some salient points about storytelling, getting lost, and giving travel directions in this digital age:
I became a lifelong fan of the Lonely Planet travel guides 20 years ago on a solo trip to Hawaii, when I stopped along a scenic highway to look for a hidden waterfall and found the trailhead just where the guide said it would be, 200 yards past the chain-link fence after the mile-marker sign on the right. There is nothing like an accurate, lucid narrative to help fight insecurity and alienation — the very definition of being lost.
Writing good directions is not unlike poetry: an exercise in awareness, requiring an eye for detail and succinct but evocative language. It’s a delight to read something like “Travel over the old stone bridge — built in 1764! — until you see the brick library and Odd Fellows Hall on your right. Turn right there and go down the hill to the water.’’ Isn’t that so much better than “Head NW on S Main St/MA 1A N .5 miles toward Market Street,’’ or some similar digital version?
Bravo - technology should complement humanity, not supersede it.
