How to Go Anywhere (and Not Get Lost): A Guide to Navigation for Young Adventurers

by Hans Aschim, Nainoa Thompson (Foreword by), Michael Currin (Read by), Michael Curran-Dorsano (Read by)

Overview

Born to explore

Get outside with this interactive book that shows how explorers have found their way around the planet for thousands of years. Read about the ancient Polynesians who tracked the stars and waves to sail precise paths through the ocean. Or the Age of European Exploration navigators who use compasses and dead reckoning to reach the New World. And learn the science behind radar and modern-day GPS satellites. Then discover how to do it yourself! With illustrated activities as well as handy tips throughout, you’ll learn the fascinating history and seriously useful skills to become a true navigator.
Up your adventure game and learn to:
—Find north and south by reading the trees
—Make a simple compass
—Use the stars to tell time
—Build a basic sextant
—Get your bearings using the sun
—Go treasure hunting with GPS


 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665047500
Publisher:	Workman Publishing
Publication date:	03/30/2021
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 5.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Nainoa Thompson is president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Pwo navigator. He is the recipient of the National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Medal and the Explorers Club Medal.

Hans Aschim is a writer and a brand consultant for the outdoor industry. He’s traveled the world over writing for Outside, Vice Sports, Esquire, Men’s Journal, and other publications, and he mentors kids for the sports and outdoors nonprofit Stoked. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Michael Curran-Dorsano is a voice talent and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
 
Foreword
 
Introduction
 
Chapter 1: Look Up and Around: Early Navigators and Nature
Activities:
   Test your cognitive mapping skills
   Get to know directions
   Read the Trees
   Make Your Own Stick Chart
 
Chapter 2: Nature’s Map in the Sky: The Sun and Stars
Activities:
   Get Your Bearings Using the Sun
   Make Your Own Star Clock
   Make Your Own Basic Sextant
 
Chapter 3:  Beyond Direction: Distance and Dead Reckoning
Activities:
   Make Your Own Mini–Chip Log
   Clock Your Speed
   DIY Pace Count Beads
 
Chapter 4: Finding Longitude: High Tech Hits the High Seas
Activities:
   Track the Sun!
   Find Solar Noon (and your Longitude) Down to the Minute
 
Chapter 5: Points North: The Almighty Map and Compass
Activities:
   Make Your Own Simple Compass
   Measuring Magnetic Declination on Planet Orange
   Take a Bearing in the Wild
   Visualizing Magnetic Declination
   Triangulation: Take Time to Really Find Yourself
   Get the Bearing for Your Destination
 
Chapter 6: The Modern Navigator: Radio Waves From Sea to Space
Activities:
   Go Satellite-gazing
   Check (and Convert) Your Coordinates, Then Search for Cache
 
Further Reading
 

Editorial Reviews

"An ideal resource to integrate geography, history, and STEM." —Booklist

"A nice addition to school collections where geography and human movement are studied.” —School Library Journal
 

From the Publisher

01/01/2021

Gr 3–7—Humans have been navigating the globe for millennia. Long before GPS came into being, people used the landscape, the ocean, the sun, moon, and stars to find their way from place to place. This book begins with a brief history of navigation and the basic principles upon which it is based. Topics include identifying direction using trees and plants, navigation using the stars, and modern tools that help people find their way (satellites, radar, and GPS). Seventeen activities encourage readers to get up and experience the principles and skills described in the text. Each activity lists supplies needed and step-by-step instructions for completing the project. The illustrations feature sketches, photographs, old portraits, maps, and colorful diagrams. VERDICT A nice addition to school collections where geography and human movement are studied.—Heidi Grange, Summit Elem. Sch., Smithfield, UT

School Library Journal

2020-04-08
Since prehistoric times, human beings have been trying not to get lost; Aschim traces how we got better and better at finding our way.

Before the advent of radio waves and GPS (which the book also covers), humans navigated using everything from stars and ocean swells to trees and sand dunes. Aschim traces how humans used these natural systems to build increasingly sophisticated navigation tools, such as the chronometer and the compass rose. Interspersed among the historical and scientific descriptions are activities designed to reinforce concepts and to help readers become master navigators themselves, such as making a sextant and practicing dead reckoning. The book is at its finest when it explores broad scientific and social concepts, such as the inherent navigational capacities of the human brain or the seafaring practices of the ancient Polynesians. Unfortunately, as the book continues, these moments grow fewer and fewer, the text bogging down with lengthy mathematical explanations and dense exposition. The book’s hectic design—including its frenetic color scheme—makes it even more difficult for readers to concentrate. Additionally, while Aschim admirably highlights navigational advances made by a range of nations and cultures, from the nomadic Bedouins to the ancient Chinese, he does not apply this same critical lens to the European conquests, which he describes as exploration rather than the dangerous beginnings of colonialism.

Focuses too much on the mundane and too little on the sublime. (afterword, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews