Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass

by Harold Gatty

During his remarkable lifetime, Harold Gatty became one of the world's great navigators (in 1931, he and Wiley Post flew around the world in a record-breaking eight days) and, to the benefit of posterity, recorded in this book much of his accumulated knowledge about pathfinding both on land and at sea.
Applying methods used by primitive peoples and early explorers, the author shows how to determine location, study wind directions and reflections in the sky, even how to use the senses of smell and hearing to find your way in the wilderness, in a desert, in snow-covered areas, and on the ocean. By observing birds and other animals, weather patterns, vegetation, shifting sands, patterns of snow fields, and the positions of the sun, moon, and stars, would-be explorers can learn to estimate distances and find their way without having to rely on a map or a compass.
The wealth of valuable data and advice in this volume — much of it unavailable elsewhere — makes it indispensable for hikers, bikers, scouts, sailors, and outdoorsmen — all those who might find themselves stranded or lost in an unfamiliar area. Through careful study of this book and its lessons, pathfinders can learn to interpret signs in the natural world to find their way in almost any kind of terrain.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Survival, Outdoors, Travel, Reference, Adventure

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's my own damn fault that I was so disappointed by this book. I had unrealistic expectations. I dreamed this book would make me a master adventurer overnight. Something like a combo of the Boy Scout Handbook and The Dangerous Book for Boys, except written for adults. Instead, I got the most tedious version of the book's premise imaginable.

To be sure, there are a few insightful sections that really caught my attention: finding directions based on the stars; sea navigation based on the color of the ocean and the direction of the swells; his general tips for estimating distance. I'm also a big fan of the general philosophy behind the book. That is, be a Sherlock-level observer of nature, and you can reasonably find your way out of (or into) trouble.

But too often the book fell into tedious fact listing or comically absurd tips. Most of his "tips" were either dated (even though the publishing date says 1998, it reads more like the 1950s), ridiculous in execution ("here, memorize this crap-load of tables, charts, and bird species, and you'll be well on your way!"), common sense ("if you're noticing roads, you're probably getting closer to civilization!"), or confounded by so many variables that they give very little direction. I get the general ideas behind finding your way by anthills or wind direction, but he clearly explains you need some form of hyperlocal knowledge for them to be effective. This seems to render any tips useless. You'd have to know where you are anyway to accurately know which way the prevailing wind should be blowing from.

Only my drive to completely finish books got me through some of the agonizingly boring sections. Never have I wanted to kill every single bird in existence more than when I read the section detailing every sea bird. I've never felt more disfigured than when he (incorrectly) believes people walk in circles because one leg is shorter than the other.

Look, it's a great reference book, but he's a poor writer and 3 out of 5 tips are useless to me. I just wish this book could have been the book I hyped it up to be. It's fine, but I'd recommend other books for someone looking into navigation and wayfinding (or adventuring!).

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

It does what the title says, as written by a navigator and aviation pioneer. It's more of a compendium of tips for divining direction through observation of wind direction, snow melt, anthill orientation (!), and other oddities only absorbed through years of action. It's a plea for mindfulness of one's environment, which I need to remember as a viable alternative to stuffing earbuds in my head during a walk or run.

Plenty of his advice is outdated ("[during a transcontinental flight] I found that it was much easier to tell the wind direction on Mondays than on any other day by watching the clotheslines, for Monday is wash day the world over") but the principle holds eternal: Look around you and you'll learn to orient yourself in space.

Not all of us can be Darwins, but all of us can be constructive potterers, all of us can go for walks with no purpose in view but that of watching, of observation, of developing the use of the senses we are born with, of arousing thought and stimulating the imagination, of awakening the creative faculties. Everything becomes more meaningful to him who watches and listens without too much thought to the value of his time.

[Woody Hayday · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, though I am an information masochist and a truth chaser. If you want an easy read guide to navigation, this isn't it, but then that's the point.

Overall this book is dryly informative, though succinct. Gatty has managed to work in a lifetime of knowledge and a truckload of other peoples too. You'll learn tactic after tactic to navigate your way around just about anywhere on the globe, using almost no aid other than thorough observation.

Through this book Gatty teaches, and proposes to mix, many methodologies. I've read a similar outlook in Charles Munger's 'latticework of world models' and thoroughly promote the idea. Learning this approach through subjects like path-finding is a superb way of doing so.

The most interesting takeaway from this that I had was the true interconnectedness of everything. It may seem obvious, but this book has a fantastic truthful quality to it, I enjoyed learning about the effect wind has on the swells of the sea or the tops of the trees.

As we add more and more layers of technology to our society, I can't help but think that books like this, that can teach you how to judge distances accurately with your finger (no joke), can teach a lot more than navigation skills. For me, path-finding and navigation are a great metaphor for life, and there are many facts in here that will enrich the observant.


And if all you want to do is find your way, it's useful for that too! It's got plenty of diagrams of trees, birds, waves, dunes, and the stars, as well as comprehensive charts. I especially liked the drawings of tree silhouettes, designed to make it easier to identify them.

Read more of my reviews on my fiction page.

[Jenni Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting -ish. The author is intelligent in what he writes about however there is a lot of random information that is not very useful to the average reader unless the reader plans on dedicating their life to learning and perfecting this skill and then getting lost in a vastly wild area. I was hoping to get a little more tricks out of this book to make everyday trips or hikes outside more insightful and observant, picking up small things here and there as I go by that I otherwise would have missed. While some was quite interesting to read, a lot was irrelevant for my general everyday walks and hikes.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Total admiration for the depth of his knowledge, but it made for a hilariously impractical "guide" to what he calls natural navigation. He outlines all of the various ways the natural world gives hints on how to determine locations, directions, and distances, as well as how much detailed knowledge one would have to have about every situation, from prevailing wind and rain to bird and ant species, and much, much more to be able to navigate reliably. Absent a lifetime dedicated to it, it seems difficult to achieve even rudimentary facility. All this said, it is fascinating that knowledge such as his exists at all. Readability 4. Rating 5.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a fascinating guy! There wasn't that much info related to hiking in the woods. More of it was about world-wide navigation, crossing oceans, deserts, etc.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts of this book were truly fascinating: orienting by shadows, tree growth, the sun, the moon, the stars. Many of these methods can be used by anyone with a little practice. However, the middle of the book bogged down. The author spent a lot of time discussing how to find your way when lost at sea or at one of the poles; since I never expect to be lost at either of these locales, and if I ever find myself in that position, I won’t be able to remember this information, I found it to be unnecessary information overload. Overall, this is an interesting read but not terribly re-readable.

[Youp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though it's slightly outdated (both in information and style), this book still manages to be mostly interesting. Some chapters are useful (like those on stars, the sun or trees), some a bit impractical (navigating in the polar regions), and some are simply useless and tedious (like numerous pages on sea birds, with little relationship to navigating). The chapters are usually too short to really go in-depth, but for a book over fifty years old the information is remarkably complete.

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly informative book. Well-written. Truly about being presence in the world around you. How to use the natural world to oriented yourself. Even a chapter on finding your way in a city using the natural world.

[Michael R Dechant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting but a little old.

A little outdated but still practical. I liked it a lot and definitely plan on using these tricks to observe nature.

[Alex Winston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not helpful

[Cromaine Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since we're spending more time outside, this is a great book to read for practical advice on how to navigate the world, especially when GPS fails you.

[David Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am lost! To much info about birds and not enough practical examples

[Keith Yocum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overly detailed and not updated...parts were interesting. But I still like Google maps...

[Christine Ripple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting topic but the book is from the 1950s so it’s a bit dated.

[Paul Forrest · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surprisingly dull.

[AttackGirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would make a great in classroom and visits to the planetarium and woods course.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing shows its age whenever speaking about native people or the latest research, but that aside it's a fun read.

[Sissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable arrangement of techniques and historical footnotes surrounding pathfinding.

[Darren Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exquisitely written for a lumberjack in the 21st century and beyond. It may seem like a futile venture, but would it help in the case where you are caught without a GPS, map, or compass? Say perhaps if a coronal mass ejection were to pass through Earth's atmosphere thereby disabling all of our electronics? What would we have to rely on in order to find our way back to safety, wherever that may be?

Harold Gatty, the WW2 Director of Air Transport for the Allied Forces, shares the knowledge he gained from the indigenous peoples across the world, and in doing so the reader understands that each of us already has everything we need to find our way back.... literally.

“In the process of evolution of our civilization we have lost something which was a matter of life or death to the primitive: that is, this highly developed powers of observation. ….due to … development by the practice of and use of these faculties.” -Harold Gatty

This book makes me appreciate the beauty of the natural world...much like 'The web of life' by John H Storer.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a wealth of information in it and can be daunting at times. After a few chapters I was able to start looking at my surroundings in a very different way and on my hikes it has become very useful. As the book continues on the material becomes a bit harder to absorb, the last few chapters I found hard to get into simply because it was so much cramped into so little words. While the knowledge of sea birds is an incredible tool and could help pin point your location on the globe either exactly or within a few hundred miles, not bad. But as others have stated getting to know each species, especially with his crude drawings and descriptions is pretty in depth and would require years of experience. However, I have to say I really enjoyed this book and urge the reader to read this book outdoors to get the full effect.

[Cobra Verde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly informative, overwhelmingly so. I will read this book again a few times in hopes of retaining more of the detailed applications. I did find myself already applying some ideas on a recent hike. Taking into account the foliage of the trees and in which direction the branches were reaching. The direction of the prevailing wind by the movement of the clouds. I found the bird section at the end to be way over my head, though the diagrams and pictures help quite a bit throughout the book.

It's a good book for someone who likes reading encyclopedias, or for someone who enjoys being aware of their surroundings in nature.

[Sam McGrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most interesting books I've read this year. Really transforms the way you look at the world around you. Hard to believe that only a few genearations back (and still today on some parts of the globe) knowledge of these techniques and others like them could mean the difference between life and death. If nothing else, this book has made me open my eyes and look around before whipping out my iPhone compass or map. Good on ya, Gatty.

[Marieanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must read if you are going to be out into the wilderness a lot....or for that matter anyone just out for some mushroom hunting. It doesn't take much to get turned around and lose your sense of direction or which way you came from. This book tells about how to read the signs of the outdoors.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great compilation of backcountry knowledge that would take one several lifetimes to accumulate on one's own. Thoughtfully written, with just the right level of detail to be inform real application, its an invaluable resource to anyone who spends time outdoors.

[Ralph Orr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first two-thirds of this book fascinated me, especially ths discussions of how "primative" peoples navigated great distances without even a compass. The last third lost my interest, as it went into details that only one who spends much time on the ocean would benefit from.

[Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The watch trick is not as accurate as one would think. However, it was most definitely interesting to learn how to tell time from the stars and how to calculate the phases of the moon for a given date.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great reminder that our ever-improving technology can render us totally unaware of the wealth of information available to us via simple observation and a bit of knowledge. I have little interest in navigating on the ocean, but I still found all of these techniques fascinating.

[Xdw · Rating 3 out of 5]

By a man who really did it! Good!

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is one of my heroes. Everyone should read this.