Gooley's clues

Although we increasingly rely on GPS devices to get us from door to door I guess we all know something about natural navigation. The Sun is in the South, right? Moss grows better on the North or shady side of trees, right?

It's not the fact that Tristan Gooley, in his Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs, knows more about it than you or I that surprises me. What surprises me is that it could be so interesting.

I knew some of the plant and soil stuff (from soggy experience in the New Forest bogs) but there was a great deal of about this planet's behaviour in terms of it's near neighbours and weather that is obvious when explained if only you take the time to look. If this book does nothing else it will teach you to observe and make deductions. It is a cumulative and rewarding process.