Harold Gatty (1903–1957)

Quite a fascinating book about staying oriented and such, but most interesting to me was the applicability of the skills to any area of life. We need to walk circumspectly rather than what most of the world is doing and so lulls us into doing: walking "rectumspectly."

The title alone should pique your interest! Once you begin reading you won't be disappointed that you picked this book up from your local library, or Amazon.com. A well written and truly informative piece of work, Harold Gatty was well known amongst the pioneers of aviation for his expert navigation skills. Gatty navigated many cross country and cross continental flights, and his expertise was often sought after by pilots such as Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post, and Howard Hughes.

In this book show more Gatty puts together his broad knowledge of simple navigation techniques used by some of the earliest settlers such as the Vikings, Polynesians, Portuguese, Native Americans and Aborigines. The author does a great job of creating an informative book and conveying it in an interesting way so that it isn't dry. You never know when this information might come in useful- especially if you plan on pursuing a career in the military!

-C/ Deocariza show less

Back in print for the first time in more than 50 years, this is the classic account of American aviator Wiley Post and Australian navigator Harold Gatty's 1931 eight-day flight around the world. 8-page black-and-white photo insert. Post twice set the record for flying around the world in Winnie Mae, a Lockheed Vega 5-C:

June, 1931 - 8 days, 16 hours - with navigator Harold Gatty
July, 1933 - 7 days, 19 hours - solo
Also a scientific innovator, Post developed a pressure suit that permitted him show more to fly the Winnie Mae into the stratosphere. http://acepilots.com/post.html show less

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