The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

The Natural Navigator Pocket Guide is out now!

Who is this book for? How does it differ from the original book? How big is it? So many questions!

First the jacket blurb, then my take on the book:

‘Starting with a simple question – ‘Which way am I looking?’ – Tristan Gooley blends natural science, myth, folklore and the history of travel to introduce you to the rare and ancient art of finding your way using nature’s own sign-posts, from the feel of a rock to the look of the moon.

With Tristan’s help, you’ll learn why some trees grow the way they do and how they can help you find your way in the countryside. You’ll discover how it’s possible to find North simply by looking at a puddle and how natural signs can be used to navigate on the open ocean and in the heart of…

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There have been a few book reviews in the US recently. Big thanks to those who have reviewed it – Timothy Smith, Clint Thomsen, Sam Edgin, Brad Allen, Randolph and Tillerman – it is great that the word is starting to spread Stateside. The following links go direct to the reviews:

The Washington Post

Amazon.com

The Englewood Review of Books

Bonnevillemariner.com

Proper Course

There was a ‘mini-review’ of the book in yesterday’s Sunday Times Culture section’s seasonal selection of the books of 2010. Here it is in its entirety:

“This in-depth book gives us the tools to re-engage with our natural world in a clear and understandable way. I love it!”

Bear Grylls

Massive thanks Bear!

A detailed review of the book has just been published on Nick Gallop’s Skills for Wild Lives website, which is well worth a visit anyway. (Image courtesy of his website).

For the past few evenings I have been heading out into the Downs to find a good spot to keep watch out to the west. A sunset is always worth a walk, but there is rarer game worth hunting for in the skies at the moment. Unfortunately the clouds came in at the last minute last night and obscured Venus and Mercury again.

Such a shame, it would have been an unusually good opportunity to catch them going to bed together. Fear not, I have a near foolproof plan for spotting them and shall report back with my results. If, over the next few days, you do catch a clear sky and setting sun, hold tight and wait for the two bright beacons that will follow the sun down.

There was a review of the book in Easter’s Sunday Telegraph.

I don’t know what you’re going through in your part of the world, but here in southern England there have been all the symptoms of a passing cold front recently. It has turned colder and there have been extreme changes of weather, with stormy downpours. The sun is out at this second, but the grass is poking up through a mat of hailstones.

I took this photo of an isolated cumulonimbus cloud and it shows one of the culprits in action. Spied on a horizon, this is exactly the sort of cloud that  should send a walker, sailor or pilot rummaging around in a bag for a Plan B!

There is a review of the book in the Irish Times this morning. If I’m honest it is the sort of review that, from an author’s perspective, a cold front can do little to dampen. Did they know that…

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Welcome Radio 4 listeners! You have found your way to the home of natural navigation on the Internet. (A podcast of my walk with Evan Davies for the Today programme can be found here. The short article that I wrote to go with the interview and the video that accompanied the broadcast can be found here.)

The book reviews are starting to come in:

‘In a sat-nav dominated world, where GPS and a host of other acronyms designed to get us from A to B have overtaken paper maps, it is refreshing to meet someone who understands technology, but prefers to find his way by practising the rare and ancient art of using nature’s signposts, from puddle patterns to shadow lenghths… I’m hooked. Back at the beech, I make a mental note of emerging bluebell patches, forming an internal map that I’ll use to find my way…

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