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The Essential Wilderness Navigator: How to Find Your Way in the Great Outdoors, Second Edition Paperback – December 28, 2000

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 165 ratings

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Now with full-color topographic maps and featuring the latest on electronic navigation, The Essential Wilderness Navigator is the clearest and most up-to-date route-finding primer available. Providing readers with exercises for developing a directional ‘sixth sense,’ tips on mastering the art of map- and compass-reading, and comprehensive updates on a range of technological advances, this perennially popular guide is more indispensable than ever.
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From the brand

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

David Seidman has spent a good portion of his life finding his way around the world. He's crossed oceans, toured central Asia and Mongolia without a map or the ability to speak the language, and found a Mayan ruin in Guatemala. He is the author of The Essential Sea Kayaker and The Complete Sailor and is an editor at Boating magazine.

Paul Cleveland has worked as a wilderness ranger in New Mexico and designed and built trails in the Appalachians. He is a frequent contributor to Backpacker and Climbing magazines and the Gorp.com Web pages. He guides whitewater rafting trips and teaches CPR and first aid for the Red Cross and wilderness navigation for Outward Bound.

From the Back Cover

The Essential Series--Your Trusted Guides

"Puts the world of wilderness navigation in the palm of your hand."--Adventure West

"Teaches the essential disciplines of compass and map-reading . . . but goes beyond the basics with useful, eye-opening advice on how to read nature's highway signs--vegetation bands, wind-whipped ripples in sand or snow, and the positions of the sun and stars."--Northeast Outdoors

If you're at all unsure of your backwoods direction-finding skills, The Essential Wilderness Navigator is the guide you've been looking for. It teaches you how to observe--to see, smell, hear, and sense the details of the environment around you. Then, to supplement your newly enhanced sense of direction, you'll learn to read maps, use a compass, and find your location and route with reference to landmarks. This updated second edition also includes

  • The basics of global positioning system (GPS) navigation and CD-ROM maps
  • A full-color section on reading topographical maps
  • Navigating in deserts, mountains, and snow

Whether you're planning an extended wilderness trek or a day hike on marked trails, here's how to stay found.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 2nd edition (December 28, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0071361103
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0071361101
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 0.32 x 9.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 165 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
165 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book a good guide for learning navigation for beginners and experienced users. It explains the basics of map reading and compass use in a clear, concise style. Readers appreciate the simple language and logical approach. Many consider it a worthwhile purchase for backpackers.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

62 customers mention "Pacing"57 positive5 negative

Customers find the book helpful for learning navigation for beginners or experienced users. It explains the basics of map and compass navigation, making it understandable. The book is thorough and informative, with simple illustrations and prescriptive exercises that get you thinking and navigating expertly.

"...Declarative statements, simple illustrations and prescriptive exercises will get you thinking and navigating expertly, if you're willing to do the..." Read more

"...That being said, I found the book to be any easy read and with techniques that were very easy to understand and put into practice...." Read more

"...a bit of dilligence you can follow this guide and become a map qualified on and off trail explorer - with confidence ...." Read more

"...Mr. Seidman shows how it should be done. The first 20 pages are so engaging, it sent me off thinking about "bigger picture" ideas, beyond..." Read more

28 customers mention "Readability"21 positive7 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and understand. They appreciate the clear writing style, concise presentation, and well-organized content. The explanations are described in everyday language and are easy to visualize. The sentences are crafted to convey maximum meaning with minimal words. Overall, readers find it an interesting and easy read for beginners as well as experienced practitioners.

"...Declarative statements, simple illustrations and prescriptive exercises will get you thinking and navigating expertly, if you're willing to do the..." Read more

"...Each chapter is self contained in that it covers a specific topic related to wilderness navigation while at the same time building on skills taught..." Read more

"...I'm sure it's thorough, but there seems to be a lot of superfluous information in here that really is not needed but appears to be "filler"...." Read more

"...It seems each sentence was honed for maximum meaning with minimal words, and does so with an almost lyrical quality. Damn...." Read more

4 customers mention "Value for money"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book good value for money. They say it's worth it for backpackers and well spent for hiking partners.

"...This book is priced very well; especially if you plan to purchase an expensive one." Read more

"...the drawings/graphics in this one so I consider it $$s well spent for my hiking partner!!!!" Read more

"...I recommend it strongly. Nice graphics and explanations. Worth it for back packers. Done." Read more

"Good book great price" Read more

Best book for learning map & compass navigation
5 out of 5 stars
Best book for learning map & compass navigation
You want to learn how to use a map and compass? For hiking or backpacking, especially remote wilderness? The Essential Wilderness Navigator is is one of the best books I've found on the subject for inexperienced hikers. Reasons:1. It gets to the point quickly in teaching you map & compass fundamentals. No wasted time on esoteric principles of magnetism or the rules of orienteering competitions. Instead, this book concentrates on one objective: accurate land navigation on foot in a wilderness environment.2. The author teaches realistically using a modern approach, not useless antediluvian methods used by 19th-century explorers who traveled in wagons with engineering rulers and architect's easels. One glaring example still advocated by other map & compass books is the recommendation to pencil in a lot of inaccurate lines all over your map the night before your trip because you might forget to adjust your analog compass for local magnetic declination. Why not just BUY a compass with adjustable declination, or simply make a note of the local variation in your area - it's easy to find online and right there on your smartphone compass app. Sitting on a windblown mountainside is not the place to draw fifteen perfectly straight pencil lines with a three-inch compass baseplate when you walk off your pre-marked map!3. The book features BOTH compass dead reckoning (compass only) AND terrain association (map priority) navigation principles and shows the advantages and weaknesses of each in a given environment. Some orienteering-biased books would have you believe the compass is only good for aligning a map to magnetic north - just wait until you have to navigate in a featureless desert or in a snowstorm.4. It has large pages and clear illustrations. Whether digitized or paper, you'll be able to easily refer to various chapters in the field. Don't laugh. Remember, you're supposed to practice outdoors what you're reading until you get it right. One attempt at reading the small print and dingy photos of the average map & compass book will make you a believer.5. While the book is intended for beginners, there is also coverage of more advanced map/compass skills (resection, finding position from a baseline and landmark, etc.). This material is covered in the same clear, practical way without useless reminiscences or tangential discussions. By way of contrast, the Sierra Club Guide to Map, Compass & GPS spends 3 pages describing the virtues of a 1902 french military compass that's been out of production for 50 years.6. The book warns you of the great inaccuracies of bogus improvised 'navigational' methods, such as finding North using the hands of a watch and the sun, while still giving you useful information on finding direction from Polaris and other alternatives that do work well enough for emergencies.7. While it has the mandatory chapter on GPS and the development of navigation using computer-generated waypoints, it does not attempt to be a 'all-method navigation' book. This book teaches you to use a map & compass in a wilderness environment, full stop.The Essential Wilderness Navigator makes understanding the subject of map & compass land navigation as simple as possible for the beginner. And once you've mastered the basics, you can move up to more advanced instruction (I recommend Lyle Brotherton's Ultimate Navigation Manual).
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2009
    I can't compare to similar books because I chose carefully and bought one. My limited experience with others isn't enough to say this is the only one for you, but I can say that by a wide margin it's the one for me. It's only ~170pp but there's scarcely a wasted word or unnecessary idea in it. Others wander through extensive desultory discussions of compass design, magnetic anomalies, map projections, tables and graphs. This book mentions each, says about it what pertains to the subject at hand and moves on. (That's the "Essential" part.) The subject at hand is not getting lost, or if necessary getting unlost. So it spends half its column-inches explaining how to use a map, how to use a compass, and how to use them together, in a progressive, logical, concise style. That's what I bought it for and I think it performs that function admirably. It's an intelligently organized instruction manual for the use of our basic tools.

    Where this book excels, though, is that while embracing technical assistance (map & compass) it begins and ends with a deep appreciation of the myriad clues available for determining position without technical assistance if we learn to see and understand them. (That's the "Wilderness Navigator" part.) So most of the other half of its column-inches are devoted to navigating without, or in conjunction with, map and/or compass using sun, stars, watercourses, topography etc., how to think graphically and accumulate data, and how to behave sensibly. It espouses a cogent philosophy I'll sum up in three aphorisms: pay attention to where you are and visualize where you've been; practice and theory are both essential (more of one doesn't make up for less of the other); and, if lost, thinking is a better strategy than hoping.

    There's the obligatory cursory examination of GPS and a nod to Orienteering, each blessedly brief because neither can be properly addressed in anything less than more than this entire book. You can ignore those bits without penalty, and you can merely read pages that examine peculiar difficulties with generic solutions, or recount illustrative anecdotes. What's left, though, demands close and repeated attention as it's precisely to the point. Declarative statements, simple illustrations and prescriptive exercises will get you thinking and navigating expertly, if you're willing to do the work.

    One small note: the authors recommend, correctly, acquiring a baseplate compass. However, they say more than once that among its advantages is that almost all baseplate compasses offer built-in declination adjustment. My experience is that dealers nearly always offer compasses with and without this feature that look almost identical. Above a certain price, perhaps, their statement is accurate, but novice shoppers can't count on it. Of a large class I once took, nearly half the students had bought new baseplate compasses that could not compensate for declination. Not one of them realized it. Unless you live in Wisconsin, or eschew maps, or can do the math flawlessly in your head, declination compensation is well worth requesting.
    35 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2011
    I've wanted to do some hiking in some of the state and national parks near my home, but I've been afraid of getting lost. Every year there are stories of hikers who had to be "found" when they lost their way. In most cases they weren't carrying a map and compass (or maybe didn't know how to use one?) and or their GPS failed for some reason. In any case, search and rescue crews spend a fair amount of time each year locating the lost and bringing them back to civilization.

    I don't want to be one of those folks and I know my limitations. I have zero sense of direction and I wanted to learn how to find my way with a map and compass. For me, a newbie, this book has been perfect. The authors assume you don't know anything and start at the beginning. Each chapter is self contained in that it covers a specific topic related to wilderness navigation while at the same time building on skills taught in previous chapters.

    At many points throughout the book, the authors encourage (insist) you go out an practice what you just learned. They have you start with exercises you can perform in a big field where you can always see your car and can't get lost. You gradually tackle more complex situations until you're able to leave the car and trail head behind and wander out of sight with a realistic expectation that you can find your way back.

    The authors are very up front that there is no magic other than practice, practice, practice with the equipment you expect to use in the wild.

    That being said, I found the book to be any easy read and with techniques that were very easy to understand and put into practice. I'm hopeful that with the skills I've learned, I can finally go see what's on the other side of that hill.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2013
    takes a difficult subject for a spatially limited person like me -and with a bit of dilligence you can follow this guide and become a map qualified on and off trail explorer - with confidence .

    illustrations and step by step instructions and practical examples are written the way they should be -CLEARLY from people who really have been there and know what they're doing.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2024
    I went through as many years of Scouts as anyone can. I thought I knew everything I knew about using the compass. Recently I saw a statement in another book that warned about good compasses being made for different parts of the globe. That lead me to decide to purchase this book. I learned my scout leaders really did not know as much as I had assumed. I learned a lot about differences in available topographical maps and matching a compass to the maps to be used. This book taught me a lot and I know now I I need to study it more carefully. A most important lesson was each of the three compasses I have owned were defective when I purchased them. The leveling bubble is so hard to get centered because it should not be there. Another tip was to purchase from a store where many can be layed out. This is to note the differences the arrows may possibly point: Only buy one that agrees with the majority. This book is priced very well; especially if you plan to purchase an expensive one.

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Larry Gladue
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource
    Reviewed in Canada on October 26, 2019
    Following what is taught in this book makes it easier to navigate the great outdoors.
  • K Piggott
    5.0 out of 5 stars looks very good by just flicking through
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2017
    looks very good by just flicking through, not looked in detail yet so not sure how easy o understand it. will give a more detailed review later. but nice, well laid out book
  • Cliente de Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable para gente qué pasa tiempo al aire libre
    Reviewed in Mexico on December 1, 2016
    Antes de leer este libro, leí Become Expert with Map and Compass y pensé que la
    Información sería un poco repetitiva, pero siendo escrito en tiempos más recientes es un poco más
    Clara, con buenas ilustraciones y abarca temas de orientación y navegación adicionales.
  • Mugambi
    5.0 out of 5 stars never get lost again
    Reviewed in Canada on August 5, 2014
    Great book
  • Matthew Cunningham
    4.0 out of 5 stars to the point
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2014
    Its Americanised hence four stars but adaptable, an excellent informative book. Easy to follow easy to understand. Tells you what you need to know and how to apply it, if you follow the guidance in this book and practice it, you will not get lost. Buy this book' your life may one day depend on it.