Finding Your Way Without a Map

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Appendix to Leslie Green's Review - Rated
I entirely support the remarks made below by Leslie Green giving a 5 star rating. If you are looking for Harold Gatty's classic 'Nature is Your Guide', do not make my mistake and buy a secondhand copy of it, plus one of this out of interest: This is a Dover Reprint of 'Nature is Your Guide'.

An excellent book, even if you hardly ever go out! - Rated
This book is a classic text which need never change over the course of decades, if not centuries. It was actually written in 1957 but is not "dated" in any way. In fact it is unlikely that a more modern author would have had such a comprehensive range of experience. The author was an experienced pathfinder and has written up his experiences of navigation in this excellent book. In this modern age where GPS positioning is the norm, one tends to think of the subject of navigation as being beyond the ordinary skills of the lay person. Gatty shows how these skills can be learned and explains how some simple rules of thumb about moss on trees etc can be misleading on their own. He shows how one develops a sense of direction not from one sign, but from a consensus of signs, giving a high confidence.

One eye opening aspect of the subject is the tale of the Polynesians and their magnificent navigational achievements. Captain Cook "discovered" islands in the pacific that were in fact never lost. Not only that, Cook's ship was smaller than the local catamarans! The history books are all written from the western perspective, treating the natives as "primitives". This whole concept of "primitives" is shown to be wrong and one gains a much better sense of the true history. This gives one a broader outlook on life in general and the wrongs that were perpetrated on less technologically advanced races.

With artificial lighting and digital time keeping we can become very detached from the natural world. This inexpensive book helps redress this imbalance and shows us how to rapidly find our bearings in a strange location.

Leslie Green CEng MIEE