The Lost Art Of Finding Our Way, by John Edward Huth

This particular book is a fascinating one because it explores one of the fundamental issues of our age, and that is the way that our use of computerized maps and detailed directions has tended to reduce our ability to find our way using cues and clues in creation.  This particular complaint is one that many people have when it comes to technology, the concern that greater technology will mean a loss of important life skills because reliance is placed on one’s external memory and not one’s internal one.  When it comes to navigation skills, this seems like a reasonable concern, not least of which because a blind reliance on technology can lead people to overlook basic signs and cues that one can gain simply by being alert and aware, and there are situations (such as, for example, when roads and areas are under construction) where computerized directions are likely to be in error and where some local knowledge would be useful when it comes to knowing the right detours to follow.  Yet the author has far more ambitious goals even than this when it comes to understanding what cues we have available to us, which makes this book a joy to read.

This particular book, if you include its appendices, is about 500 pages or so, and it is divided into 18 chapters and four appendices.  The book begins with a discussion of navigation before technology was relied upon (1) as well as a discussion of the maps we have in our minds (2).  After this comes a discussion about being lost (3) and the use of dead reckoning to get a rough idea of where one is (4).  After that the author talks about urban myths of navigation (5) as well the use of maps and compasses (6) as well as stars (7) to aid in navigation.  After that the author talks about the sun and the moon (8) as well as the places where the heavens meet the earth (9).  There is a chapter on longitude (10) as well as weather myths like the red sky at night (11) and how it is that people gained skill at reading the waves (12).  There are chapters on soundings and tides (13), currents and gyres (14), as well as a look at the speed and stability of hulls (15).  The author then writes about discussions of travel against the wind (16) as well as our fellow wanderers in creation (17), and an extended story of one particular navigator in the Pacific (18).  There are then four appendices that close the book as well as a glossary, notes, acknowledgments, and an index.

It is obvious that if someone has a love of navigation than this book would be an enjoyable one.  There are plenty of forms of navigation that are interesting from a historical perspective, as the author is especially impressed with the navigation skills of the Polynesian sailors, for example.  There are also some forms of navigation that are useful for people who go into the wilderness, in using dead reckoning to deliberately seek to meet up with a landmark like a river and then move a particular direction to reach one’s destination rather than be mistaken in trying to guess exactly where somewhere was.  The stories the author tells blend with some humorous urban myths about moss preferring the north side of trees, assuming that there is no moisture on other sides, for example, and demonstrates that humanity has done a good job throughout history of having solid cues for knowing where one was.  If such cues are completely lost than there will obviously be a greater vulnerability where technology is not available, but most people will probably be content to look at their GPS and not think about such subjects.  For those people who do find this book and its content interesting, there is a lot to appreciate and learn from here.