The Science of Navigation: From Dead Reckoning to GPS

by Mark Denny

In today’s world of online maps and travel directions delivered wirelessly to hand-held devices, getting from place to place requires little thought from most of us—which is a good thing, since accurate navigation can be tricky. Get your bearings with Mark Denny—an expert at explaining scientific concepts in non-technical language—in this all-encompassing look at the history and science of navigation. Denny’s tour kicks off with key facts about the earth and how its physical properties affect travel. He discusses cartography and early mapmakers, revealing fascinating tidbits such as how changes over time of the direction of true north, as well as of magnetic north, impacted navigation. Denny details the evolution of navigation from the days of coastal piloting to GPS and other modern-day technologies. He explains the scientific breakthroughs in accessible, amusing terms and provides an insightful look at their effects on societies, cultures, and human advancement. Throughout, Denny frames the long history of navigation with amazing tales of such people as Pytheas, an ancient Greek navigator, and Sir Francis Drake and of such discoveries as the magnetic compass and radio direction finding. Whether you have an interest in orienteering and geocaching or want to know more about the critical role navigation has played in human survival and progress since ancient people learned to use lodestones, The Science of Navigation is for you. With it you’ll finally understand the why of wayfinding.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Started writing in 2005, after 20 years working for a living...In fact, writing is work, of course, but I mean that I like it a lot more than the 9-to-5 grind of my office job (research engineer for a multinational aerospace corporation).

Ingenium was my first book, and I guess it shows, but I still have a great fondness for it. I was approached out of the blue by the editor of Johns Hopkins University Press who had seen a bunch of my published papers on historically important machines--he thought they could form the basis of an interesting popular science book. So I wrote it; the reviews were kind. I've recently completed my tenth book.

Reviews

[Steve Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the topics this author covers, but the writing is so uneven - sometimes clear, sometimes not understandable. It would also help if the illustrations could appear on the same page as the explaining text.

[Mirza Sabtu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive details and well written

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book while sailing, which made pretty much everything here much more tangible. Highly recommended if you want to learn the basics to navigation, and how humans did it before the electronic age. Fascinating.