The Natural Navigator


Book Description

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Secret World of Weather and The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, learn to tap into nature and notice the hidden clues all around you Before GPS, before the compass, and even before cartography, humankind was navigating. Now this singular guide helps us rediscover what our ancestors long understood—that a windswept tree, the depth of a puddle, or a trill of birdsong can help us find our way, if we know what to look and listen for. Adventurer and navigation expert Tristan Gooley unlocks the directional clues hidden in the sun, moon, stars, clouds, weather patterns, lengthening shadows, changing tides, plant growth, and the habits of wildlife. Rich with navigational anecdotes collected across ages, continents, and cultures, The Natural Navigator will help keep you on course and open your eyes to the wonders, large and small, of the natural world.




We, the Navigators


Book Description

This new edition includes a discussion of theories about traditional methods of navigation developed during recent decades, the story of the renaissance of star navigation throughout the Pacific, and material about navigation systems in Indonesia, Siberia, and the Indian Ocean.




Finding Your Own North Star


Book Description

New York Times bestselling author and Life Designs, Inc. creator Martha Beck shares her step-by-step program that will guide you to fulfill your own potential and create a joyful life. In this book, you'll start by learning how to read the internal compasses already built into your brain and body--and why you may have spent your life ignoring their signals. As you become reacquainted with your own deepest desires, you'll identify and repair any unconscious beliefs or unhealed emotional wounds that may be blocking your progress. This will change your life, but don't worry--although every life is unique, major transformations have common elements, and Beck provides a map that will guide you through your own life changes. You'll learn how to navigate every stage, from the first flickering appearance of a new dream to the planning and implementation of your own ideal life. Based on Dr. Beck's work as a Harvard-trained sociologist, research associate at Harvard Business School, instructor at Thunderbird Business School, and especially on her experiences with her clients over the last six years, Finding Your Own North Star offers thoroughly tested case studies, questionnaires, and exercises to help you articulate your core desires and act on them to build a more satisfying life. “Explorers depend on the North Star when there are no other landmarks in sight. The same relationship exists between you and your right life, the ultimate realization of your potential for happiness. I believe that a knowledge of that perfect life sits inside you just as the North Star sits in its unaltering spot.” -- Martha Beck




The Barefoot Navigator


Book Description

'Barefoot navigation: 5,000 years in the making.' Barefoot Navigator introducesus to a unique take on navigation – using the skills of the ancients and technology-free techniques, we learn how to navigate using the sun, sea, wind and stars, and even the flight patterns of ocean birds. The first part of this absorbing book recounts a colourful history of seafarers and their navigation techniques. How did the Polynesians manage to populate an area of ocean larger than North America simply by analysing clouds,currents and wind direction? How did the Vikings routinely travel on the notorious stretches of water between Iceland, Greenland and Scandinavia? The second part shows how to use these ancient techniques to supplement today's navigational hardware, especially in survival situations. Fascinating history, useful advice, enjoyable writing, and different to every other navigation reference out there, this second edition has been beautifully packaged in a hardback format, with new illustrations and thoroughly revised text.




Bird Migration


Book Description

Bird migration is one of the most astonishing feats in the natural world. Millions of birds migrate, often over very large distances, to benefit from seasonal resource surpluses and to avoid predators and competitors. The aim of this study is to survey the phenomena.




Current Ornithology


Book Description

Volume 5 of this series continues its coverage of currently active re search fields in ornithology. Because an editor can never be a disin terested observer of his or her own editorial efforts, any claim for su periority of this volume is not without conflict of interest. Even so, Volume 5 has certain merits that even a parent should acknowledge, and I find the current chapters not merely timely and authoritative but compelling in their demand for a reader's attention. Wolfgang and Roswitha Wiltschko provide a perceptive review of magnetic orientation in birds, a piece dedicated to Fritz Merkel, the pioneer in studies of magnetic orientation. Sergei Kharitonov and Doug las Siegel-Causey are concerned with the behavioral ecology of seabird coloniality, emphasizing their field experiences in the USSR and the United States. Ted Miller examines the application of studies of bird behavior to comparative biology, pursuing the interface of behavior and evolutionary biology adumbrated by Konrad Lorenz in the 1930s. Jeremy Raynor gives us a summary of the work over the past decade on bird flight, which is not, by turns, as complex or as simple as we had formerly believed. Carrol Henderson describes recent develop ments in nongame bird conservation, based on his pioneering work in the State of Minnesota. Alan Kamil discusses optimal experimental design for research in ornithology, a field in which experimental work is frequently difficult to pursue.




Reawakened


Book Description

In this important book, ten navigators — the late Hec Busby, Piripi Evans and Jacko Thatcher from Aotearoa New Zealand; Peia Patai and Tua Pittman from the Cook Islands; and Kalepa Baybayan, Shorty Bertelmann, Nainoa Thompson, `Onohi Paishon and Bruce Blankenfeld from Hawai`i — share the challenges and triumphs of traditional wayfinding based on the deep knowledge of legendary navigator Mau Piailug.They also discuss the significance of receiving the title of Pwo (master navigator) from Piailug, and the responsibilities that come with that position. Their stories are intertwined with the renaissance of knowledge and traditions around open-ocean voyaging that are inspiring communities across the Pacific.




Mental Models


Book Description

This classic volume compiles and describes interdisciplinary research on the formal nature of human knowledge about the world. Three key dimensions that characterize mental models research are examined: the nature of the domain studied, the nature of the theoretical approach, and the nature of the methodology.




Our Only Star and Compass


Book Description

In Our Only Star and Compass, Peter C. Myers reexamines the role of Locke in liberal political philosophy. Myers considers Locke's philosophy in relation both to contemporary liberalism and to the great works of classical and modern political philosophy.




Gatherings of Angels


Book Description

The migration of birds has forever amazed and confounded onlookers. How do birds find their way to their destinations? How do they withstand the dangers and rigors of long-distance flight? The survival of migrant birds is increasingly threatened by environmental degradation and manmade hazards; their protection is more critical than ever. Gatherings of Angels offers first-hand accounts by leading experts who convey the beauty and excitement of migration while communicating important messages about avian conservation. The book features twenty-four pages of stunning color photographs with additional black-and-white photographs throughout.Two chapters of background information on migration precede chapters that focus on different species or groups of birds and the localities essential to their survival--from the spring flights of songbirds across the Gulf of Mexico to the massing of sandhill cranes on the Platte River. The authors discuss the timing of migrant travel; the routes followed; and the concentration of birds in stop-over sites, locations that must be preserved if they are to have secure resting spots with fresh water and ample food to fuel their journey.




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