Andrew Crowe's Blog

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Podcast of recent author interview re Pathway of the Birds available from National Radio at:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/progra...

Two Ka Palapala Po'okela Awards 2019
New Zealand Heritage Book Award 2019
Storylines Notable Book Award 2019
Top Ten Non-Fiction for 2018 - Auckland Libraries
Top Reads of 2018 - Weekend Herald

JUDGES' COMMENTS from the latest awards in Hawai`i: Top honors in the Reference Books category: 'Pathways of the Birds is certainly not the first text to cover the engaging topic of how Polynesians populated the Pacific but it very well may be the best example of merging hard science and clear narrative. Andrew Crowe has given us a new entry in the field that focuses on voyages to Aotearoa (New Zealand) while expanding the story to explain one of the greatest maritime feats ever accomplished—navigating Oceania without instrumentation. In this text academic graphs sit next to brilliant photos and clear narration that manages to convey both a broad and deep understanding to the reader. Whether read start to finish or flipped open to almost any page, Pathways of the Birds will enlighten and entertain.' ALSO 'Top honors in the Illustrative or Photo Books category goes to Pathway of the Birds for its significant contribution towards promoting a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Pacific exploratory navigators. The panel was impressed by the seamless interpretation and integration of a vast amount of information by the designer into a dense, but clear design rhythm that’s consistent throughout. Lots of small photos, maps and graphics are incorporated into easily graspable blocks of specific facts. Thanks to Pathway of the Birds, an engaging, motivating study of how the natural world connects to the collective knowledge inherited from our Pacific Ocean Ancestors, we are given a new way to look at the big picture of migration and evolution in Polynesia.'

New Zealand Heritage Book Award 2019
Storylines Notable Book Award 2019
Top Ten Non-Fiction for 2018 - Auckland Libraries
Top Reads of 2018 - Weekend Herald

In 'a tour de force', says The Journal of the Polynesian Society of this book, 'Crowe describes what [an actual] voyage of settlement may have looked like in the most accurate and vivid way. Imagining a planned voyage from Rarotonga to New Zealand, we embark on a canoe and visualise Matariki rising on the horizon, follow the humpback whales and the petrels, observe the clouds and swell patterns, and learn how the Māori survived at sea for weeks with regards to such factors as hydration, provisioning and changing temperatures.' The point here is that the ancestors of Māori reached New Zealand neither by accident nor as a single fleet in some freak one-off event. Rather, their maritime feats at that time - some 750 years ago - led the world. Cook understood this, which is why he described their vast domain as 'by far the most extensive nation upon earth'.

NZ Heritage Book Award 2019
Storylines Notable Book Award 2019 - NZ Children's Literature Foundation
Top Ten Non-Fiction for 2018 - Auckland Libraries
Top Reads of 2018 - Weekend Herald

Tuia 250 reminds us of the need to finally do away with those versions of Māori history in which their ancestors arrive in Aotearoa either by accident or in a one-off event aboard a single fleet of canoes. This book seeks to set the record straight. In 'a tour de force', says The Journal of the Polynesian Society , 'Crowe describes here what a voyage of settlement may have looked like in the most accurate and vivid way. Imagining a planned voyage from Rarotonga to New Zealand, we embark on a canoe and visualise Matariki rising on the horizon, follow the humpback whales and the petrels, observe the clouds and swell patterns, and learn how the Māori survived at sea for weeks with regards to such factors as hydration, provisioning and changing temperatures.'

Recommended Reading - Journal of the Polynesian Society, June 2019
Storylines Notable Book Award 2019 - Children's Literature Foundation of NZ
Top Ten Non-Fiction for 2018 - Auckland Libraries
Top Reads of 2018 - Weekend Herald

'Tuia Encounters 250' (this October) marks the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s 1769 arrival in New Zealand, an event billed by NZ's Ministry for Culture and Heritage as a celebration of the meeting of two great voyaging traditions. How much do we actually know, though, of the indigenous side of this story? What do we know of the skills that enabled Pacific non-instrument navigators to find and re-find targets that were often extraordinarily small and/or remote? It is this ability above all others that sets them apart from other mariners, including the Greeks, Romans, Vikings, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English and Chinese. In Pathway of the Birds - the first major summary of Polynesian voyaging since Vikings of the Sunrise (1938) and Vaka Moana (2006) – we learn not only of the purposeful voyaging of the Polynesian ancestors, but also of traditional navigation techniques and a recent resurgence in their use.

Philanthropist Dr Simon McDonald: "I was so inspired by [my reading of a draft of this book], that I decided to purchase an ocean-going waka (Hinemoana is shown on the book cover) and set up a foundation that offers young Māori, Polynesians and other New Zealanders the opportunity to appreciate the seafaring experiences of their great ancestors who sailed to Aotearoa 800 years ago."

The Dalai Lama Story is now available internationally as an ebook:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QDY2DGG