View source for How to Read Water by Tristan Gooley

{{infobox
|title=How to Read Water
|author=Tristan Gooley
|reviewer= Louise Jones
|genre=Popular Science
|summary= Readers will never look at water the same way again. Puddles, ponds, lakes and the sea all have their time in the spotlight in this absorbing(!) read.
|rating=4
|buy=yes
|borrow=yes
|pages=384
|publisher=Sceptre
|date=April 2016
|isbn=9781473615205
|website=http://www.naturalnavigator.com
|video=
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473615208</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1473615208</amazonus>
}}

Signs are all around us, if we know where to look. The ability to read and interpret signs is particularly useful to navigators and those who make their living on the water. In fact, the ability to read water can mean the difference between life and death, especially when strong tidal currents are involved. Of course, there are those who take water-reading beyond the ability of even the most experienced sailors. Traditional Arab navigators called this knowledge the ''isharat.'' Pacific islanders call it ''kapesani lemetau''-the talk of the sea or water lore. Those who posses such knowledge have been baffling Westerners for centuries with their seemingly preternatural ability to understand the water.

Water-reading is a skill that takes a lifetime to master, but luckily we have a little help in acquiring the basics, thanks to Gooley's latest book: ''How to Read Water.'' With a little practice and patience, we can become more attuned to our local environment, and the good news (for land-locked people like me) is that we don't need to live near the sea to hone these skills. Just taking the time to look at movement and patterns on a small scale can give us a pretty good idea of how water works to a universal standard. It's also a good excuse for making lots of cups of tea, as the humble teacup holds quite a few secrets of its own...

The book has something for everyone, as different aspects of water-lore will appeal to different people. I particularly enjoyed the chapters that investigated tracking skills and water-loving wildlife, whereas my husband loved the sections about tidal patterns and sea currents. I also liked the chapters that had a sensory focus, exploring the colours, light patterns and sounds of water.

The book is packed with interesting facts and anecdotes, like the story of the strange tidal currents that would wash drowned people ashore onto different beaches depending on whether they were rich or poor (rich people tend to be fatter) and the fact that rainbows have more red colour if they are made up of large raindrops.

The goal of the author is to have his readers never look at water the same way after reading this book. He has certainly achieved his objective and I doubt I will now ever be able to walk past a lake or even a pond without checking for surface patterns. Many thanks to the publishers for my review copy.

If, like me, you enjoyed the chapters about tracking and navigation, why not try [[The Ultimate Survival Guide For Boys by Mike Flynn]]?

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