Overland Navigation by Don Russell
There certainly isn’t a shortage of books on overland navigation; however, there does seem to be a shortage of books that start at the beginning explaining how and why things are as they are. To go through everything would require a book of a 1000 pages, and to go with it an extremely dedicated reader! That said, it’s so important to understand how the system works; that way, you don’t need to remember all the little rhymes & acronyms of what to do and when to do it that seem to adorn the pages of other publications.
Once an understanding of the system has been achieved the rest will follow quite quickly, making light work of it all later on in the field. Unfortunately, you can’t learn experience from a book but you can learn from the experience of others. Many other publications (and courses) go down the route of instruction with little or no explanation as to why. Years ago in the military, if you asked ‘Why?’, the instructor would say ‘It’s like that because I say it is’; thankfully, things have now changed.
Basic navigation is without doubt the most difficult to master; the reason for this being that you have to learn everything from the beginning with little or no prior knowledge. Advanced navigation, although possibly more complex, is much easier to learn; this is because you’re only adding additional information to an already existing, very substantial base.
Just How Basic is Basic Overland Navigation?
The word basic can be quite misleading in this context as it refers to the initial starting level and
not the level attained. Certainly, completing the Basic Overland Navigation Course will academically surpass the standard required for a winter mountain leader and the 3 days/1 night of one-on-one practical navigation will give you a very high level of navigation awareness. Practice is all that’s required at that point to become very, very proficient indeed. So much so that severe weather conditions should never be a consideration from a navigation point of view.
So! Why an Advanced Course?
The Advanced Overland Navigation Course is more to do with many other things that come into play for the navigator of a group, search & recovery, combat survival, tracking etc., etc. It does go into more detail on certain things like pacing, contouring and the like but mainly it’s about all the other things that navigation is about. Navigation and route planning is not just about getting from A to B!
Why Buy the Book?
Those that have read my articles on the site know that my knowledge and advice comes from actually doing it, so you can be sure that it actually works. That’s not to say that my way is the only way, or indeed the best way, but it is the way that I have found the easiest and best over the years. I try to explain things in the written word in the same way that I would to a student in the classroom verbally, trying not to leave anything to misinterpretation. The cost of the book is quite low and to someone that wishes to learn about navigation for adventure, or indeed, for someone who just requires a good awareness when on general trips; it shouldn’t break the bank. Hopefully, it will be used as a reference to assist you in the months ahead being useful long after the initial read.
Will Any More Books Follow?
Certainly, if this one is popular there is no reason why books on Advanced Overland Navigation, Survival Techniques, Combat Survival, Backpacking, and Travel Security could not follow. It’s all to do with how many
people find the book useful, informative and value for money.
To those that take the plunge and go for it, I sincerely hope that you’ll find the information extremely useful. More importantly, I hope that it may arouse the adventurous spirit in your soul and allow you the freedom to chase those dreams of adventure wherever they may take you.
Here is the link to the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A411PF4
