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How to Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea (Natural Navigation) (Hardcover)

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Description


Hone your senses and learn to read the hidden signs of nature—from master outdoorsman Tristan Gooley, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Read a Tree and The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs



“Equal parts alfresco inspiration, interesting factoids, how-to instructions and self-help advice.”—The Wall Street Journal


When most of us go for a walk, a single sense—sight—tends to dominate our experience. But when New York Times–bestselling author and expert navigator Tristan Gooley goes for a walk, he uses all five senses to “read” everything nature has to offer. A single lowly weed can serve as his compass, calendar, clock, and even pharmacist.



In How to Read Nature, Gooley introduces readers to his world—where the sky, sea, and land teem with marvels. Plus, he shares 15 exercises to sharpen all of your senses. Soon you’ll be making your own discoveries, every time you step outside!

About the Author


TRISTAN GOOLEY is the New York Times–bestselling author of How to Read a Tree, How to Read Nature, The Natural Navigator, The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, The Secret World of Weather, and The Nature Instinct. He has led expeditions on five continents, climbed mountains in three, and is the only living person to have both flown and sailed solo across the Atlantic. His more than two decades of pioneering outdoor experience include research among tribal peoples in some of the remotest regions on Earth.

Praise For…


A New York Times Bestseller

A Forbes Top 10 Conservation and Environment Book of 2016

2016 Foreword INDIES Bronze Winner




"Mr. Gooley misses little in his paean to Earth’s most abundant resource. . . . He starts small, at a mud puddle watching ripples fan out from a pebble drop, and ends big, in the frigid reaches of the Arctic Sea. Along the way he asks and answers many questions. If you like water, as I do, you will learn a lot.

— The Wall Street Journal

[Gooley’s] detailed observations are breathtaking as he patiently explains how to see. Jam-packed with information, birders, naturalists, hikers, hunters, and anyone interested in the natural world will find much of use.

— Forbes

Gooley is your man. . . . With unflappable practicality, he shares simple ways to understand your surroundings, whether you’re beside a stream or on the open sea at night, without instruments.
— Discover

Even if you don’t live near a lake, river or ocean, this fascinating book teaches you how to read water patterns in rain puddles and any other place water gathers.
— San Francisco Chronicle

With the help of this book, and with careful attention and observation, anyone can learn how to interpret the messages water offers to aid in everything from navigation to weather forecasting. A ­riveting and highly accessible book that will appeal to water enthusiasts and nature lovers of all kinds.
— Library Journal

Avid and budding outdoorspeople will appreciate Gooley’s breadth of knowledge and accessible approach.
— Publishers Weekly

A Sunday Times “Must Read” book



"This inspired guide to water in all its forms will make a big splash. . . . Gooley has done his subject proud—this is seriously fascinating stuff.

— Times

This study of the behavior of rivers, lakes, and seas brims over with astonishing facts. . . . His observational skills can be breathtaking. . . . Gooley’s infectious delight in knowledge translates into a gleeful hoarding of words . . . . The joy of these words and phenomena is that they make you yearn to observe them in the real world. . . . Gooley even manages to explain tides coherently and excitingly in just 14 pages, which is quite some feat, given that they are a lot more complicated than being a mere effect of the moon’s gravity.
— Sunday Times

The quirks and habits and secrets of good old H2O were crying out to have a book written about them. That said, it had to be written by the right person. . . . Fortunately, the job went to Tristan Gooley. . . . His tales recount wisdom gathered on the ground (literally), often by trial and error, and his joy at discovering something almost makes you feel you did the work yourself. . . . The book doesn't just cover the rural sections of the waterfront: urban dwellers get a look-in too.
— Spectator

Quite apart from being well written and an enjoyable read, there is plenty in the book that is revelatory.
— The Royal Institute of Navigation

He writes with passion, humor, and clarity, and engages so deeply with the tributaries of inquiry that reading it feels as exhilarating as being towed by a dolphin. . . . There’s so much here that I can't do it justice; chapters on water at night; currents and tides; reading waves; the coast. This is an absolute gem of a book. A must-have for anyone who loves the water.
— The Outdoor Swimming Society

The goal of the author is to have his readers never look at water the same way after reading this book. He has certainly achieved his objective and I doubt I will now ever be able to walk past a lake or even a pond without checking for surface patterns.
— thebookbag.co.uk

Gooley, who has single-handedly been reviving natural navigation in this age of GPS, has the birdwatching skills of Bill Oddie and the deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes. He can make you feel that you've spent half your life walking about with your eyes
— Telegraph

This book is a treasure is in its un-ironic display of joyful curiosity, and its serious pursuit of this curiosity to knowledge that is a pleasure in itself.
— Washington Free Beacon

Product Details
ISBN: 9781615193585
ISBN-10: 1615193588
Publisher: The Experiment
Publication Date: August 23rd, 2016
Pages: 400
Language: English
Series: Natural Navigation