Tristan Gooley

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

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

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.

External links[edit]

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