NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Navigation "simplified". was: Buckley the Navigator
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2008 Mar 3, 07:57 -0000
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2008 Mar 3, 07:57 -0000
In [NavList 4570] Re: Buckley the Navigator, Greg R wrote- "I have no doubt that Buckley was probably a superb navigator, but I found his "Celestial Navigation Simplified" DVD to be less than helpful (much of it seemed to rely on rote "do as I say, don't worry about the theory" learning) and his narration seemed a bit pompous and with what appeared to me to be a tone of "I know this and you don't" running throughout it. "Luckily" the DVD had a huge video/audio glitch and I was able to get a refund for it, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone wanting to learn celnav - there are a lot better choices out there." ============================ Comment from George. I have a longstanding distrust of any claim, in the title of a book (or DVD, perhaps) that it is somehow "simplified", or "made easy". One example from my shelves is a short text titled "Nautical Astronomy made easy", dated 1900, by A.C.Johnson. He was the famous navigator, better known as "Cloudy Weather" Johnson, for another book "On finding the latitude and longitude in cloudy weather", and many more. His "made easy" pamphlet comprises four pages of condensed tables, and a set of rules for getting answers, with no attempt to explain in any way what on earth the navigator is supposed to be doing, and why. Another, "Astronomical Navigation made easy", was written by a flying-school instructor, G W Ferguson, in 1937, with several reprints during the war. It goes straight into spherical trig without even attempting to explain why that should have any relevance to navigation. Completely inscrutable. I pity any RAF pilot who had to try learning his craft from such a book; finding his way out over Germany, and even harder, then finding his way home again. George. contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---