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

by Tristan Gooley

Overview

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!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615193592
Publisher:	The Experiment
Publication date:	08/23/2016
Series:	Natural Navigation
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	392,720
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

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.

Table of Contents

Strange Beginnings: An Introduction 1

1 Launching 14

2 How to See the Pacific in a Pond 23

3 Land Ripples 37

4 The Not-So-Humble Puddle 48

5 Rivers and Streams 64

6 The Rise 94

7 The Lake 115

8 The Color of Water 129

9 Light and Water 144

10 The Sound of Water 159

11 Reading Waves 174

12 The Omani Delight: An Interlude 206

13 The Coast 219

14 The Beach 243

15 Currents and Tides 266

16 Water at Night 296

17 Shipwatching 320

18 Rare and Extraordinary 337

19 Uncharted Water: An Epilogue 353

Sources, Notes, and Further Reading 362

Selected Bibliography 372

Acknowledgments 375

Picture Acknowledgments 377

Index 379

About the Author 394

Editorial Reviews

05/23/2016
In this enthusiastic, if esoteric, volume, Gooley (The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs), a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Institute of Navigation, diagnoses humans with a lack of fascination with water and sets out to rectify this situation. He examines water in its various liquid forms, pointing readers toward the “physical clues, signs, and patterns to look for in water, whether you are standing by a puddle or gazing out across miles of ocean.” For example, Gooley identifies various types of puddles—including low-point, tracker, and navigator puddles—and reveals the reasons behind the ways they form, such as the ground beneath them, or the local flora and fauna. Similarly, he explains the differences among ripples, waves, and swells in larger bodies of water. Readers should be prepared for the occasional technical discussion, as when Gooley gives a rundown of the individual layers of water in a lake—epilimnion, thermocline, hypolimnion—and outlines an experiment readers can do at home to further explore them. The minutiae may turn off some readers, but avid and budding outdoorspeople will appreciate Gooley’s breadth of knowledge and accessible approach to his subject. Agent: Sophie Hicks, Sophie Hicks Agency. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

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 only half-open. He does it again with this fascinating guide to watching and interpreting water, everywhere from the garden pond to the Pacific.”—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

From the Publisher

06/01/2016
In this engaging field guide, Gooley (The Natural Navigator), who has more than two decades of outdoor expertise, describes how readers can train themselves to look at water in a different way in order to learn about their surroundings. Using experience gained from his remarkable travel expeditions around the world, the author demonstrates how simple signs in the landscape can reveal if water is nearby, in both the city and the country; how to read ripples to find calm spots; and what it means when water changes color. From the shallowest puddle to the deepest ocean, water is in constant communication with its environment. Gooley has tapped into that language and shares his findings here. 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. VERDICT A riveting and highly accessible book that will appeal to water enthusiasts and nature lovers of all kinds.—Venessa Hughes, Buffalo, NY

Library Journal