Book Review: The Natural Navigator

When I first found The Natural Navigator, by Tristran Gooley, I expected a short book detailing a few tricks that I'd previously seen on TV programmes about Bushcraft and Survival. This book is so much more than that.

The book does discuss some of the methods shown on these TV programmes, it also goes into depth explaning why some of them can assist you, also why a lot of them cannot. The primary purpose of The Natural Navigator, is to explain to us how to find out which way we are looking. Potentially quite boring, but in fact, an exciting read. We look at how to find our direction from the land, the sun, the firmament, the moon, the sea, and the elements.

It must be said that this isn't a field guide, there is a pocket guide version of this book which I assume is a field guide to navigation. This book does contain all of the practical advise that you need, but it's also layered with a lot of theory. The theory can at time bog the reader down with a lot of information that would need multiple reads (or attendance at Mr. Gooley's Navigation course), but is ultimately worth reading so that when you come across it again you not only have a passing knowledge of the information, but will be able to take on board deeper aspects of it. Most of the theory in the book is also reiterated with helpful diagrams.

The author completes the book with a chapter that contains a few examples of how to bring the concepts of the previous chapters together. This book can really help you not only use natural navigation as part of your navigation tool kit, but can also bring a new level of awareness to your surroundings and what made them the way you see them today. Definitely worth a read!

Own or Loan:         Loan
Read Again:           No
Recommend:         Yes
Overall out of Five:4