The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs Quotes

“Most of the walking books I have come across over the years get bogged down in obsessive attention to safety and equipment. I have rarely found myself enjoying these books, because I do not go walking with the purpose of staying within a world of perfect safety and comfort. Personally, I would rather die walking than die of boredom reading about how to walk safely.”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals-and Other Forgotten Skills

“Our current perspective will influence our sense of everything else. For this reason, never look at something that is moving if balance is critical.”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals-and Other Forgotten Skills

“Randomness is not a great survival strategy, so it is rare in nature.”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals-and Other Forgotten Skills

“Personally, I would rather die walking than die of boredom reading about how to walk safely.”
― Tristan Gooley, The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs

“In this book I will take the original approach of assuming that you are capable of walking safely and with roughly the right socks on. If you are the sort of person who likes to go ice-climbing in a nightie, then you probably don’t read many walking books and I suspect it would take more than a book to mend your ways.”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals - and Other Forgotten Skills

“S—Shape O—Overall character R—Routes T—Tracks E—Edges D—Detail”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals-and Other Forgotten Skills

“Once we have trained ourselves to become observant, only then can we enjoy the bigger game of deduction. This may start with broad observations”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals-and Other Forgotten Skills

“then don’t look at the moving water—it makes balancing almost impossible.”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals-and Other Forgotten Skills

“If you ever need to walk across something narrow, say, a fallen tree that crosses a stream or river,”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals-and Other Forgotten Skills

“Notice how the further away things are, the lighter they appear. The nearest hill is noticeably darker than the one behind it, and the one behind that appears lighter still, all the way to the horizon”
― Tristan Gooley, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals-and Other Forgotten Skills