The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs by Tristan Gooley

Book Review

Last October I attended a talk by Tristan Gooley at Gilbert White’s House and Gardens in which he talked about ‘How To Read A Tree’, his latest book. Tristan Gooley has phenomenal knowledge, there can be no doubt of that, but I’ll be honest I’ve never yet got to the end of one of his books (The Secret World Of Weather, I’m looking at you). So why is that and did I get to the end of ‘The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs’? Read on to find out.

Here’s the blurb:

The ultimate guide to what the land, sun, moon, stars, trees, plants, animals, sky and clouds can reveal - when you know what to look for.

Includes over 850 outdoor clues and signs for you to enjoy the wonders of the outdoors from your living room.

This top ten bestseller is the result of Tristan Gooley's two decades of pioneering outdoors experience and six years of instructing, researching and writing. It includes lots of outdoor clues and signs that will not be found in any other book in the world.

As well as the most comprehensive guide to natural navigation for walkers ever compiled, it also contains clues for weather forecasting, tracking, city walks, coast walks, night walks and dozens of other areas.

The short answer? No. As I previously noted, Tristan Gooley is a treasure trove of knowledge when it comes to reading the landscape. He’s lived it, he loves it and you can tell. He has so much to teach you but if you think his books are the equivalent of ‘The Dummies Guides’, they aren’t. Far from it.

They can be overwhelming and at times I needed to read things several times in order to absorb them. Either my mind isn’t wired that way or these books are more of an encyclopaedia of Gooley’s knowledge, which no one can ever hope to hold in their head in its entirety, unless of course, you are Gooley.

I really enjoyed the parts of this book I read but it is definitely something that needs to be read in small doses in between the other books. It should be left on a coffee table, beside the cooker or in the hallway, somewhere you pass frequently and may wish to tarry a while and read another of the wondrous facts that inhabit Gooley’s mind.

His enthusiasm sings through the pages and his passion is enviable, but the breadth and depth of knowledge within the pages of this book is not something I am ever going to be able to consume or retain if I read it cover to cover.

Therefore, in conclusion, I love Gooley’s work, his talk was fascinating, and indeed I was gifted ‘How Too Read A Tree’ and ‘The Natural Navigator’ for Christmas by members of my family. His books will continue to be found in my library but you may just find them scattered about the house instead of neatly on a bookshelf, so that I may discover how to read the stars, which way is north according to a tree and which paw prints those are in the mud, whilst I’m stirring the pot for dinner, or when I have five minutes to kill before the school run.

You can buy Tristan Gooley’s, ‘The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs’ in all good bookshops. If you would like to buy a copy online, please consider visiting my page on Bookshop.org where I have gathered some of the books I read and recommend. Here you will find a plethora of myth, legend and folktale.

And don’t forget to support your local library too. See if they have a copy to borrow.