Tools of Navigation: A Kid's Guide to the History & Science of Finding Your Way

by Rachel Dickinson

Children will learn all about their inventors, the way they changed history, and their evolution over centuries, through the activities and anecdotes provided in this interactive series. Travel through the past and into the future to explore the history of human navigation, from the crude maps of early explorers to the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) of today. This guide to learning about geography, trade routes over land and sea, and navigational tools and people who used them, is supplemented with 15 hands-on projects and educational activities to expand world view and build navigational confidence.

Genres: History

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

Reviews

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to use your astrolabe.

This book is a great starting place for Navigation. I bought it for the information on an astrolabe. Later I found just the general information on the navigation to be of great interest.

Do not overlook the fun projects that allow you to touch history and be part of what the world must have been like.

A couple of subjects have touched on my history as I was both using orienteering as part of my job as armed reconnaissance in Vietnam (pre-GPS). And making topological maps in the military Base TOPO Virginia.

There is even a practical second on reading streetlamps.

Now when you watch the movie “Big Country” (1958) with Gregory Peck using a sextant to navigate you will know how he does it and wonder why the other people there did not think of it.

There are lots of nice pictures and diagrams.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I remember is not wanting to take it back to the library.