Tristan Gooley (born 1973) is a British writer on natural navigation.[1][2][3][4][5]

Tristan Gooley
Tristan Gooley on the South Downs Way at Bignor Hill, West Sussex.
Gooley at Bignor Hill, West Sussex in 2020

Early life and education

edit

Gooley was born in 1973; his father is Sir Michael Gooley, the founder of Trailfinders, who was knighted in 2021 for services to business and charity.[6]

Gooley has a BA in history and politics (1996) from Newcastle University.[7][8] He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro while in his teens,[2] and, aged 19, he spent three days lost on the slopes of Gunung Rinjani, an active volcano in Indonesia.[9]

Travel and navigation

edit

Gooley has walked with the Dayak in Borneo,[10] and in 2009 studied and practiced natural navigation methods with the Tuareg in the Libyan Sahara.[11] In 2012 he led a short-handed small boat voyage, from the Orkney Islands into the Arctic Circle, to test Viking methods and determine whether nature can help a navigator estimate their distance from land.[12] He has walked from Glasgow to London and parachuted off a building in Australia. After years of extreme journeys, aged 36 he turned towards smaller journeys and studying nature.[13]

In 2008, he became the second person, after Steve Fossett (1944-2007), to have both sailed solo and flown solo across the Atlantic; as of 2023, he is the only living person to have done so.[14][15]

Gooley specialises in interpreting nature's signs,[16] and has been referred to as the "Sherlock Holmes of Nature".[17][18]

He has identified a type of path, which has been recognised by the Royal Institute of Navigation. The "smile path" is a (smile-shaped) curve, formed when walkers avoid an obstacle or, during Covid, seek to preserve safe distance from other people.[19][20]

Writing

edit

Gooley has written for the New York Times, the Sunday Times, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC.[21] He is the author of books[22] which have been translated into 19 languages,[23] and have been referenced by artists including David Hockney.[24]

Recognition

edit

Gooley is a fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and of the Royal Geographical Society.[14]

In 2020 was awarded the Harold Spencer-Jones Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of Navigation in recognition of an outstanding contribution to navigation.[25]

Personal life

edit

Gooley is married to Sophie and they have two sons. They live in Eartham, West Sussex.[3]

Gooley is vice-chairman of Trailfinders, the travel agency founded in 1970 by his father.[21]

Selected publications

edit

Books

edit
  • Gooley, Tristan (2011). The natural navigator. London: Virgin. ISBN 978-1-905264-94-0.
  • Gooley, Tristan (2013). The natural explorer. London: Sceptre. ISBN 978-1-4447-2031-0.
  • Gooley, Tristan (2014). The walker's guide to outdoor clues and signs : their meaning and the art of making predictions and deductions. London. ISBN 978-1-4447-8008-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Gooley, Tristan (2014). How to connect with nature. London. ISBN 978-0-230-76807-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Gooley, Tristan (2017). How to read water : clues and patterns from puddles to the sea. London. ISBN 978-1-4736-1522-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Gooley, Tristan (14 April 2022). The Secret World of Weather: how to read signs in every cloud, breeze, hill, street, plant, animal, and dewdrop. Sceptre. ISBN 978-1-5293-3958-1.
  • Gooley, Tristan (2023). How to Read a Tree : clues & patterns from roots to leaves. [S.l.]: Sceptre. ISBN 978-1-5293-3959-8.

Articles

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Cox, Tom (18 July 2014). "My lesson in countryside detective work – and how not to get lost". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b Barrell, Sarah (11 May 2021). "Natural navigation: an expert reveals how to read the weather on your next trip". National Geographic. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Who is 'natural navigator' Tristan Gooley?". Sussex Life. 17 December 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  4. ^ Phillips, Adrian (10 March 2012). "A guided tour with the Natural Navigator". The Independent. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  5. ^ Hamilton, Chloe (1 February 2019). "Meet the man who has ditched maps and uses nature to navigate". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Trailfinders founder Mike Gooley knighted". Travel Weekly. 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  7. ^ Gooley, Tristan (2023). How to Read a Tree : clues & patterns from roots to leaves. London: Sceptre. ISBN 978-1-5293-3959-8.
  8. ^ "Inspirational Alumni". www.ncl.ac.uk. Newcastle University. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  9. ^ Gooley, Tristan (26 August 2015). The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals—and Other Forgotten Skills. The Experiment. ISBN 978-1-61519-242-7.
  10. ^ Arbuthnot, Leaf. "A puddle whisperer plumbing the depths". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Natural Navigation with the Tuareg in the Libyan Sahara". The Natural Navigator. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  12. ^ Gooley, Tristan (March 2013). "Nature's Radar". The Journal of Navigation. 66 (2): 161–179. doi:10.1017/S0373463312000495. ISSN 0373-4633. S2CID 128428067.
  13. ^ "Extreme rambling". www.telegraph.co.uk. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Tristan Gooley". The Natural Navigator. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  15. ^ Gooley, Tristan (April 2008). "Double Atlantic" (PDF). Yachting Monthly. pp. 60–64. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Natural navigation: an expert reveals how to read the weather on your next trip". National Geographic. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  17. ^ Kerr, Michael (11 July 2016). "Drawing inspiration from Australia's wild places". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  18. ^ Gooley, Tristan (19 June 2023). "Reading Trees on Sunday Brunch". The Natural Navigator. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  19. ^ "New 'Smile Path' identified and named by natural navigatoer Tristan Gooley - Royal Institute of Navigation". rin.org.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  20. ^ Gooley, Tristan (23 July 2020). "The Smile Path". The Natural Navigator. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  21. ^ a b "Tristan Gooley". Sophie Hicks Agency. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Tristan Gooley". Hachette UK. 24 April 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  23. ^ "Tristan Gooley". The Natural Navigator. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  24. ^ Gayford, Martin; Hockney, David (25 March 2021). Spring Cannot be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy. Thames and Hudson Limited. ISBN 978-0-500-77669-8.
  25. ^ "Awards - Royal Institute of Navigation". rin.org.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
edit