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John Edward Huth

The Lost Art of Finding Our Way Hardcover – May 15, 2013

by John Edward Huth (Author)

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Long before GPS, Google Earth, and global transit, humans traveled vast distances using only environmental clues and simple instruments. John Huth asks what is lost when modern technology substitutes for our innate capacity to find our way. Encyclopedic in breadth, weaving together astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, and ethnography, The Lost Art of Finding Our Way puts us in the shoes, ships, and sleds of early navigators for whom paying close attention to the environment around them was, quite literally, a matter of life and death.

Haunted by the fate of two young kayakers lost in a fogbank off Nantucket, Huth shows us how to navigate using natural phenomena—the way the Vikings used the sunstone to detect polarization of sunlight, and Arab traders learned to sail into the wind, and Pacific Islanders used underwater lightning and “read” waves to guide their explorations. Huth reminds us that we are all navigators capable of learning techniques ranging from the simplest to the most sophisticated skills of direction-finding. Even today, careful observation of the sun and moon, tides and ocean currents, weather and atmospheric effects can be all we need to find our way.

Lavishly illustrated with nearly 200 specially prepared drawings, Huth’s compelling account of the cultures of navigation will engross readers in a narrative that is part scientific treatise, part personal travelogue, and part vivid re-creation of navigational history. Seeing through the eyes of past voyagers, we bring our own world into sharper view.

Print length

544 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Belknap Press
Publication date

May 15, 2013
Dimensions

6.25 x 1.75 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0674072820
ISBN-13

978-0674072824
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Lamenting the loss of navigational skills, [Huth] set out to collect in one volume the many schemes that kept our forebears alive. Ancient explorers could, through navigational nous, undertake voyages over great expanses of ocean and land to establish settlements and trade routes, and return home. (Peter Monaghan Chronicle of Higher Education 2013-04-01)

Humanity's lust for exploring terra incognita shaped and tested our prodigious capacity for mental mapping. Now, with the advent of the Global Positioning System, wayfaring skills are on the wane. Physicist John Edward Huth turns explorer in this rich, wide-ranging and lucidly illustrated primer on how to find yourself in the middle of somewhere. Huth's prescription for navigating fog, darkness, open ocean, thick forests or unknown terrain rests first on harnessing compass, Sun and stars; then on the subtleties of weather forecasting and decoding markers such as the wind, waves and tides. (Nature 2013-05-02)

Early humans learned to navigate on land and sea by watching the world around them...Huth recovers some of this history by looking at Norse legends, the records of Arab traders moving across the Indian Ocean and Pacific Islanders...Huth's subject is fascinating...We have lost many of our innate abilities on the way to this technologically

advanced moment in time. But John Edward Huth believes, and his book shows, that some of what was lost can still be found. We just need to relearn how to read the signs.

(Anthony Sattin Literary Review 2013-05-01)

Just as we are said to have abandoned the art of memory when we started writing things down, so Huth says that we have lost our instinct for knowing how to get from here to there. Before the scientific revolution we had the ability to interpret environmental information that enabled us to navigate long distances. Huth surveys Pacific Islanders, medieval Arab traders, Vikings and early Western European travellers before examining techniques for navigators to look to the stars for astronomical beacons, as well as to the weather and the water. (Iain Finlayson The Times 2013-05-18)

One of the repeated themes of The Lost Art of Finding Our Way is that even the most confused of us can improve our navigational understanding by paying closer attention to the world around us...A learned and encyclopedic grab bag, packed with information drawn from study and Huth's own experience. (Michael Dirda Washington Post 2013-06-13)

[An] irresistible book...Huth has an affable, smart tone, as welcoming as a Billy Collins poem. His knowledge of way-finding and its history is rangy and detailed, but his enthusiasm never flickers, lifting the educational factor to higher ground: rewarding, artful, ably conveying what can be some fairly abstruse material, the finer points of navigation being among them. There are, by the way, many, many fine points regarding navigation, and if Huth gets a bit windy in pointing them out, well, let the wind blow. It's refreshing. (Peter Lewis Barnes & Noble Review 2013-06-26)

[Huth's] exuberance shines through: he makes gadgets in his garage and narrates adventures at sea. Huth's is a book filled with joy about what we might term the everyday mathematics of living on the Earth...Huth is concerned that we have become desensitized to our physical environment because of technology such as smartphones and global positioning systems, which do the work of plotting and routefinding for us. To live in what Huth dubs 'the bubble' created by such devices is to lose not only our wonder at the world but also a bundle of precious survival skills. To be able to find our way in the world is to reconnect with its value in a virtuous spiral of environmental awareness.
(Robert J. Mayhew Times Higher Education 2013-08-01)

The book offers a clear, comprehensive, and entertaining short course in navigation that draws on Earth science, history, anthropology, neuroscience, archaeology, and linguistics. It provides both a primer on navigational techniques and a tour through 'the historical evolution of way finding.' Huth punctuates instruction on celestial navigation and reading wind, weather, and currents with engaging stories and images. These are derived from sources as varied as the oral histories of Pacific Islanders and Inuit hunters, Homer's Odyssey, Icelandic sagas, navigational tables from the medieval Islamic world, and contemporary news reports and sailing accounts.
(Deirdre Lockwood Science 2013-08-09)

It's a great reference, filled with personal and historical anecdotes and fascinating bits of physics, astronomy, oceanography, and meteorology. And that's one of Huth's central points: To find your way in a world without maps, you can't rely on any single cue--you need to make the best of whatever combination of cues is available to you...With a little study, The Lost Art of Finding Our Way could be your guide to reconnecting with the navigational aids in the world around you.
(Greg Miller Wired 2013-09-05)

Full of wisdom that is fast disappearing in an age of satnav and GPS. (Arthur Musgrave The Guardian 2013-12-28)

John Huth’s The Lost Art of Finding Our Way is a book for anyone who’s ever cursed themselves for not being able to get home by way of the stars and winds. Or for anyone who wants to learn how the Vikings and others once managed to. (Thomas Meaney Times Literary Supplement 2014-06-13)

About the Author

John Edward Huth is Donner Professor of Science in the Physics Department at Harvard University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Belknap Press; First American Edition (May 15, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674072820
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674072824
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.16 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.75 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #609,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #152 in Oceanography (Books)
- #426 in Ship History (Books)
- #484 in Rivers in Earth Science

Customer Reviews:
107 ratings

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John Edward Huth

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John Edward Huth was born in London, England in 1958. He is currently the Donner Professor of Science at Harvard University. Professor Huth's main research interests focus on the experimental study of elementary particle physics. He teaches in the Harvard University Physics Department, and teaches a General Education class, Primitive Navigation. Prof. Huth was a member of the CDF experiment at Fermilab and worked on the discovery of the top quark there, among other topics. More recently, Prof. Huth is currently a member of the ATLAS Collaboration and participated in the discovery of the Higgs boson (the so-called god particle).

A second research topic of interest is cultures of navigation found in different regions of the world, and the particular intersection of cultural practices and the environmental influences on how people navigate. Some focus is on the cultures of the Pacific Islands, the Norse, and the rise of western European celestial navigation from its roots in astrology and astronomy. His first book on this topic, The Lost Art of Finding Our Way, explores this subject. The General Education class, Primitive Navigation, taught at Harvard, uses a variety of real life exercises to teach the subject.

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2 star		7%
1 star		2%

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David L. Ehnebuske

Nice Book; Poor Kindle Edition

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2013

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I agree with the other reviews that this is a terrific book. That said, you should know that its conversion to Kindle is pretty sloppy. It looks like the print edition was scanned and run through a character recognition process but then not checked for accuracy. For example, in the formula on pages 58 and 59 of the print edition for estimating the distance to an object there's a "division sign" character -- the one that looks like a dash with a dot above and below it. In the Kindle edition this is rendered as a "+". This is worse than wrong since it makes the author look like he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Sadly, in my experience this sort of careless conversion is more typical than not for Kindle editions. I wonder why Amazon cares so little about the quality of its Kindle editions. And I wonder why authors and readers silently put up with it.

64 people found this helpful

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Navigating without GPS

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2013

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We did not always have GPS, and we did not always have smartphones, and we did not always know where we were. It still happens that people get lost. At the beginning of _The Lost Art of Finding Our Way_ (Harvard University Press), physicist John Edward Huth tells how there is still danger out there. He once found himself beset in fog, kayaking off Cape Cod. It had happened before, and this time, before setting out, he had noted the waves, wind, and more. He was able to use these clues to get home even in the fog, but two other kayakers were in the same fog and were not so lucky, and he subsequently read about their disappearance in the newspaper. They didn't have his ability to read the signs, and when the fog descended, they probably were completely lost and paddled seawards. His book is dedicated to them, and if Huth has his way, there will be far fewer lost hikers and sailors. There are many primitive and refined methods of land and marine navigation described here. This entertaining book is not just a summary of such techniques, but an appreciation of the pre-smartphone cultures (Arab traders, Vikings, Pacific Islanders, and those scientific types from Europe, too) that used and developed them, and a call for us to lift our eyes from our screens. Huth encourages us to leave "the bubble" of electronic positioning and take a good look around. He has lead courses to train students in primitive navigation and it works. "I have found that students can become adept at reading star patterns, following the arc of the Sun across the sky, and predicting the weather. But to acquire these skills you absolutely must leave the bubble and look at the stars, the clouds, and the Sun."

What do people do when they are lost? Lost people wander out in loopy, ineffective paths that cross back on themselves. If they are observant enough to realize that they are back where they started, panic can increase. Sometimes they use folk advice to rescue themselves, like walking downhill until they find a creek that will lead downstream to civilization; if the stream goes into a swamp, they are worse off. There's a whole list of other ineffective behaviors which lost people perform besides random walks, like following any game trail or track they come across or obsessively attempting to head off in one absolute direction. Some tactics can be effective, like getting to a high point to get an overview of the territory. Huth allows technology to intrude here: a high point is better for cell phone coverage, too. Basic land navigation starts with "dead reckoning," which was good enough for Lewis and Clark. Huth says you can gain skills in dead reckoning, but that even with a compass an experienced pathfinder can expect a precision within five or ten degrees at best. Estimates of distance covered, based on speed, similarly are subject to distortion due to terrain or fatigue. Especially interesting are corrections navigators have known for centuries they had to make. Light from a star bends as it goes through the atmosphere, for instance, and is especially bent from stars that are close to the horizon; these are just the stars a navigator will be looking for, since the job in sighting with the sextant is to measure the angle between a star and the horizon below it. Navigators are not restricted to looking at the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets. If you know something about prevailing waves, tides, currents, and winds, you might be able to pick up clues to location; the Pacific Islanders were adept at this sort of wayfinding. If you are stuck at sea and don't know where you are, you might look to the sky to see land-based birds that are fishing but will soon return to land, and they can point the way. Take care not to confuse them with pelagic birds that spend all their time at sea except for nesting. In the old days, when ships and life were slower, a sailor might take a jaunt at sea with no provision for navigation except to ask passing ships about location. Readers of _Moby Dick_ will remember that it was fairly common for ships stop and have a social "gam." Even now, a navigator can get clues from spotting ships in their traffic routes, and Huth explains how even seeing airplanes in the sky can give navigational information.

Huth's book is sizeable, with good diagrams and maps. He is an inspired teacher, and obviously loves his subject, one that includes cosmology, physics, meteorology, history, legends, and psychology. You may not have a chance of using any of the techniques here. Huth warns, "All of these techniques are matters of habit. Reading about them can be a curiosity, but they need to be practiced." I'm not in mind to practice them, and chances are I am never going to need them, but Huth's guide to guides is fun to read, and is a little monument to human cleverness.

17 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A practical subject written as a history of progression, not a practical book.

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2019

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More academia than pleasure in this this book for me. I was expecting a practical text. It is certainly informative, but if you want to go directly to the "how-to" be aware this book is more about how methods of navigation changed over time and in various locations. I have to read a lot from this book to find the useful information. But if history of navigation is your interest then this book may flick your switch.

4 people found this helpful

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Melvyn Drag

Will Take A Few Years To Properly Review

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2019

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The author gives alot of information about nature in this book. He provides numbers here and there throughout the book. Book was a great read over the course of a few weeks. We'll have to head outside, book in hand, to see if he's telling the truth! Luckily summer is starting and it s a fine time to get outdoors.

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G. G.

Fantastic book. I'm only halfway through it

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2016

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Fantastic book. I'm only halfway through it, but highly recommend reading this if the topic is moderately interesting. It's written in a really enjoyable way, but is also dense on actual usable information and I'm learning a lot.

3 people found this helpful

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Kristy Hall Gherlone

Informative and Entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2020

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I bought this book on the suggestion of the Backyard Meteorology class I took online from Harvard in the midst of the pandemic. I, too, am a lover of the outdoors, having spent my life in the north country and many years working in the wild. The images the author describes brought me back to those places. I learned a lot from reading it and find myself watching the sky a bit more often.

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Amazon Customer

Excellent

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2016

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This is an amazing book if you tire of people relying on their GPS, and then getting lost because they don't pay attention to landmarks, etc. I find myself making notes in the margin, and I somehow feel validated by continuing to use my "Mind Map."

One person found this helpful

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feather pen

Brilliant, easy to read, deeply informative

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2018

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Fascinating. Loved all his detail, and even bought one to give my son. Would like to read more on this subject - but enjoyed this WHOLE long book enormously.

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Matloub Husayn-Ali-Khan

Lost Ancient Art of Navigation by the Stars Revived!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2021

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Whilst searching for various books on Amazon came across this brilliant one by John E Huth: The Lost Art of Finding Our Way - accidently and as someone who has done global overland travel in the days befoe the advent of Global Position System(GPS), Smart-phones and Google etc. The book covers 'primitive' navigation techniques such as reading Star Patterns, following the arc of the Sun across the sky, and predicting the weather which includes (Arab Traders, Viking and Pacific Islanders). The book mentions the example of the world famous Muslim Polymath/Scientist: Abu Rayhan Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Biruni (c AD 973-1048).

The book refers to Al Biruni's "Dip-Angle method, even using a large astrolabe as a dramatic prop, and illustrate the technique, giving the dip-angle formula. He (Huth) concludes: "with this formula, Biruni's able to arrive at a value for the cirumference of the earth that is within 200 miles of the exact value we know it to be today, about 25,000 miles. That's to within an accuracy less than one per cent; a remarkable achievement for someone a thousand years ago" (Jim al-Khalili, Science and Islam, Episode 2, Power of Reason, BBC 4, Jan 12, 2009).

In a nuthshell, the book has excellent diagrams and maps. The Huth's background in Physics comes into play and is very inspirational and his labour of love of subjects including Scientific, Meteorological, Cosmological and Psychological. Huth powerfully argues that reading about them can be a curiousity, but they need to be practical.

A highly recommended book and a must have for those interested in the great outdoors and travelling. Also, worth reading Tristan Gooley paperback -The Walkers Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs: Explore Great Outdoors from your armchair.

Marilyn Dance

This is a brillient book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2021

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I took a free online course called "Backyard Meterology". This book was recommended on that course. Chapter 12 "Red Sky at Night" is its basis. The book is a compilation of science fact, experiences and homespun sayings that our forebears relied upon to get them from one place to another. I would recommend this book to anyone to ignite their sense of adventure and awaken their curiousity about how things work in the natural world.

gandgmh

Knowledge and history

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2019

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I purchased this book to provide backgroung to a meteorological course that I was studying. I was pleasantly surprised to find that although there were some pretty technical aspects it was also an interesting read with explanations of how different civiliations learned to find there way around the world, fascinating stuff. Vry readable.

One person found this helpful

a klezmer enthusiast

Interesting ideas

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2017

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Rather dense, probably interesting if you can get through it but not all that readable. I though I might easity fix my map phobia but perhaps I was delusional!

Cliente Amazon

The Lost Art of Finding Our Way è una buona lettura!

Reviewed in Italy on July 22, 2016

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The Lost Art of Finding Our Way è una buona lettura!
Il libro è scritto in lingua, ma è di facile lettura.

A me è piaciuto, prende in considerazione l'arte del viaggiare e sapersi orientare, raccogliendo varie testimonianze del passato per rappresentare l'evoluzione nella storia di questa arte peculiare, per poi affrontare l'argomento dal punto di vista matematico e scientifico.
Per me è stato molto interessante e mi ha dato parecchie competenze utili ad esempio per le mie uscite notturne e per l'osservazione del cielo stellato...

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