GPS, the finding utility we take for granted, was nearly stillborn - until the Iraq war.
Fought in a trackless landscape, Desert Storm proved GPS indispensable. Today, the military, like the rest of us, rarely venture outside without it.
Jim Carrier’s newest book, HERE WE ARE - THE HISTORY, MEANING AND MAGIC OF GPS (New Word City) describes GPS’s difficult birth in a Pentagon dominated by killing machines. A product of war, but not a weapon itself, GPS and its ability to target, locate, guide and rescue was unappreciated — until Iraq. With a shortage of GPS units, mothers and wives began mailing soldiers cheap, off-the-shelf navigators to use in their fight against Saddam Hussein.
That is just one of the fascinating stories Carrier unearthed in his compact eBook on the little-known discovery, development, and future of GPS, the greatest advance in navigation ever fielded and a mighty electronic glue binding the modern world together.
“I believe that 50 years from now historians will place GPS on the short list of inventions, alongside the clock, electricity, and the Internet, that are truly indispensable,” he writes. “We can’t imagine living without it. In fact, without GPS, civilization as we have come to expect it would sink into chaos.”
On any given day, GPS saves lives and takes lives, tracks bears and convicts, guides us to Grandma’s house, and helps deliver FedX packages along the most efficient route. But few realize how much GPS has seeped into the very infrastructure of our civilization, delivering time for ATM withdrawals, high-line power, and international stock exchanges, and navigation for oil platforms, corn farmers, pilots and the blind.
Born in the Cold War to guide Polaris missiles, satellite navigation has now become imbedded in thousands of civilian applications with an estimated annual economic impact of $122 billion.
HERE WE ARE (28 pages) is available for $2.99 from all major eBook platforms, including the iPad, Nook and Kindle. For further information and ordering, visit New Word City.
Media: for a review copy and interviews, contact: jimcarrier@msn.com, 608-467-2662