Most navigators have heard of Viking sunstones, but few realize they are more than legend. Leif Karlsen has brought them to life. He shows us how they work--now, and a thousand years ago--and what it was that led the Viking navigators to develop this unique tool for finding the direction to the sun, even when the sun is obscured by clouds or fog.
"Most navigators have heard of Viking sunstones, but few realize they are more than legend. Leif Karlsen has brought them to life. He shows us how they work-now, and a thousand years ago-and what it was that led the Viking navigators to develop this unique tool for finding the direction to the sun, even when the sun is obscured by clouds or fog." -David Burch, PhD, FIN, Director, Starpath School of Navigation "Using clues he gleaned from the Icelandic Sagas, his experience as a professional navigator, and from his voyages on "Borgunknarren"-a 60' Viking ship replica-Leif K. Karlsen reveals the secrets of Viking navigation. Karlsen has done extensive research on the Viking "sunstone" and "horizon board" and explains how they work. This is an interesting, valuable, and educational contribution to the understanding of the Vikings' success as navigators and seamen." -Dr. Alf Lunder Knudsen, Editor Emeritus Western Viking "The Norwegian Voice of America -Since 1889 If "cutting edge" can be used in relation to Viking navigation, this information is definitely it. Leif Karlsen is the world's foremost scholar on the Viking sunstone. His well-researched and intelligent work on Viking navigation examines the sagas and combines that information with the experiential and practical research of just trying it out. It's a comprehensive and accessible study that's also a compelling analysis of the secrets of Viking navigators, and their unparalled success as sea-born explorers." -Kristine Leander, Ph.D., Director, Leif Erikson International Foundation
'Barefoot navigation: 5,000 years in the making.' Barefoot Navigator introducesus to a unique take on navigation – using the skills of the ancients and technology-free techniques, we learn how to navigate using the sun, sea, wind and stars, and even the flight patterns of ocean birds. The first part of this absorbing book recounts a colourful history of seafarers and their navigation techniques. How did the Polynesians manage to populate an area of ocean larger than North America simply by analysing clouds,currents and wind direction? How did the Vikings routinely travel on the notorious stretches of water between Iceland, Greenland and Scandinavia? The second part shows how to use these ancient techniques to supplement today's navigational hardware, especially in survival situations. Fascinating history, useful advice, enjoyable writing, and different to every other navigation reference out there, this second edition has been beautifully packaged in a hardback format, with new illustrations and thoroughly revised text.
Paranormal Technology is the first book to provide a scientific method for ghost hunting, which includes in-depth explanations of what the collected data means. Paranormal Technology offers new techniques, answers questions, and provides experiments, which will help bridge the gap between the paranormal and science. Written in everyday language, it offers keen insights into the nature of paranormal phenomena, the protocols required for collecting evidence that will stand up to scientific scrutiny, and the possible theories that may explain the source of Ghosts. Currently employed test equipment is examined and proper use is covered in great detail. Paranormal Technology is an indispensible aid to any scientific researcher or ghost hunting group, whether you are a beginner, or with many years of experience. This book is not a means to an end, but rather, an invitation to a fresh begining.
Fisheries and Aquaculture: The Food Security of the Future takes a multidisciplinary approach in evaluating the fisheries and aquaculture sectors from the scienti?c and practical perspectives of industry professionals. The authors recognize the importance of looking at the industry from a value chain viewpoint, not only for food security but also for a blue economy. The book takes a unique and innovative approach to show how ?sheries and aquaculture can achieve sustainability and how small ?shery communities can become highly successful ?shery and aquaculture communities and contribute to overall industry globalization. This is a practical and useful reference for a wide-ranging audience. It is for those who wish to make systematic e?orts to develop their fisheries or aquaculture sectors, scientists and researchers, anyone in ?sheries management or marine resource management, ?sh farmers, policy makers, leaders and regulators, operations researchers, as well as faculty and students. - Presents potential solutions for more economical and sustainable ?sheries development - Provides an overview of the ?shing industry's technology options, ranging from less-developed communities to modern high-tech communities - Demonstrates market principles in the ?sheries and aquaculture sectors, particularly demand for seafood in various parts of the world, its availability and the importance of ownership rights
How was the Norse Navigator able to shape his course across the North Atlantic long before the invention of the magnetic compass? This book tells the story of the Viking Sun Compass and how it allowed the Vikings to sail across the Atlantic. In 1948, the Danish archaeologist C.L. Veb�k found the remains of a small wooden disc at the Viking Age site of Uunartoq in Greenland. Since then the Master mariners Carl V. Sver and Sen Thirslund have interpreted this find as a navigational instrument. This book is the essence of more than forty years of archaeological studies, discussions and practical sea-going experiments. The author gives a full account of the history of the find and demonstrates convincingly how Viking Age Navigators could make use of this and other simple devices in order to find their way across the vastness of the Northern Atlantic.
This book takes readers back and forth through time and makes the past accessible to all families, students and the general reader and is an unprecedented collection of a list of events in chronological order and a wealth of informative knowledge about the rise and fall of empires, major scientific breakthroughs, groundbreaking inventions, and monumental moments about everything that has ever happened.
For a thorough comprehension of the field of geophysics, we need to understand its origins. Basic Geophysics by Enders Robinson and Dean Clark takes us on a journey that demonstrates how the achievements of our predecessors have paved the way for our modern science. From the ancient Greeks through the Enlightenment to the greats of the contemporary age, the reasoning behind basic principles is explored and clarified. With that foundation, several advanced topics are examined, including: the 3D wave equation; ray tracing and seismic modeling; reflection, refraction, and diffraction; and WKBJ migration. The successful integration of the historical narrative alongside practical analysis of relevant principles makes this book an excellent resource for both novices and professionals, and all readers will gain insight and appreciation for the seismic theory that underlies modern exploration seismology.
As a young man piloting a small sailboat across the Pacific, Steve Thomas developed a fascination with ancient methods of navigation. He learned of a seafaring culture which 6,000 years ago, used arcane navigation arts to guide initiates unerringly across the Pacific wih no compasses, no charts. By the time of Christ, these navigators were pushing on through all of Oceania, populating nearly a quarter of the Earth's surface. Thomas ventured to the tiny coral atolls of Micronesia in search of these mysteries, this ancient language of the sea. There he found the last navigator. Mau Piailug, one of the last surviving "palu," belongs to a dying breed of navigators who used only natural signs--stars, waves, birds--to guide their sailing canoes across thousands of miles of open ocean. Thomas and Piailug voyage together on the frail ship of human memory in an attempt to preserve for future generaions an ancient, mysterious, and beautiful kinship with the sea before it is lost forever. Theirs is an unforgettable journey. "An unusually self-revealing, honest and moving book." --"Scientific American." "Finely crafted and compellingly written. . . . A deeply saddening book about the fast approaching death of an ancient and beautiful way of life." --"Aloha Magazine" Steve Thomas by thirty-one years of age had already logged more than 30,000 blue-water miles as a professional navigator and skipper before setting out to study Micronesian navigation. He is currently the host of the PBS television series "This Old House."
