Tristan Gooley is a New York Times best selling author of How to Read Water, How To Read Nature, The Natural Navigator, The Lost Art of |Reading Nature’s signs, and The Secret World of Weather. Today we are going to talk to Tristan about his latest book How to Read a Tree.
Tristan Gooley is a New York Times best selling author of How to Read Water, How To Read Nature, The Natural Navigator, The Lost Art of |Reading Nature’s signs, and The Secret World of Weather. Today we are going to talk to Tristan about his latest book How to Read a Tree.
Tristan Gooley is a leading expert on natural navigation, and his passion for the subject stems from his hands on experience. He has led expeditions in 5 continents, climbed mountains in Europe, Africa, and Asia: sailed boats across oceans; piloted small aircrafts across Africa and the Artic. He is the only living person to both fly and sail single-handedly across the Atlantic, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and The Royal Geographical Society.
1. Tristan Gooley would you please tell us your story of discovering natural navigation?
2:47: I was a restless kid who like to climb hills, and explore. In my 20s I went on big adventures finding my own way with bits of kit. After that I decided that instead of doing thousand mile expeditions , I would turn things on their head and do very small journeys just using nature to find my way.
3:14 I found this was like being a little boy again who finds the thrill of climbing up a whole hill on my own. So this changed my whole life.
2. In your first book The Natural Navigator you use the question “which way am I looking?” Please tells us more about this.
This wonderful art of navigation starts with the idea that we can tell which way we are looking by noticing the angle of a leaf, the shape of a tree, the patterns we see in the sky. None of it is random. The whole environment is a set of in connecting clues.
3. With my grown kids this summer we used How To Read a Tree: Clues and Patterns from Bark to Leaves gives to help us find direction using the effect of the sun and the wind on individual trees. And they got it! Please tell us about this.
7:16 Trees grow more abundantly on the side that the light comes from.
7:27 At the most basic level, here is more tree on the south side.
7:37 every part of every plant (it’s easier with trees because they are bigger) is reacting to sun, wind, and water. Once we understand that we understand why trees grow bigger on the south side because they are growing out toward the light. Whereas on the northern side there are fewer branches and they grow up toward the sky, closer to vertical to catch the light.
Every part of the world has a prevailing wind pattern. In the UK it is SE to NW. It is important to learn your prevailing wind pattern.
8:37 The logic of natural navigation is simple and once the brain is taught, it will tell you, North is that way.
9:42 This is how our ancestors lived.
4. Please talk to us about tree roots (eg. the side of the tree that is pushed by more wind these roots become stronger, probably the north side).
10:47 The to do list of roots is to provide stability. They respond to what they find. Tree roots grow longer and stronger on the side facing prevailing winds. Look at the base of a tree trunk where it flares out. This will give you clues about direction.
5. You say for trees answer to a challenge is to “grow more wood” – please explain.
Most trees want a single trunk. If you see a fork in a tree trunk, look at the bottom of the V to tell how stable it is – how much extra wood did it make to create stability.
6. 16:16 You say trees have eyes and self prune their branches..
A tree doesn’t want to use energy that it does not have to. If a branch is not getting sun the tree will let it die off. The shape of the iris in the eye is where the branch was. The wider shape is the branch support.
7. Is there anything else that you would like to tell this audience today?
18:26 The amount that we see and we don’t see at the same time is what I am interested in. If we look at nature as a source of clues, a tree will tell me which way is home, how far I am from home, and how far I am from water.
19:22 This is what our brains want to do as soon as we start learning the clues our brain is engaged because this is what our brains want to do.
20:30 What is the wind tunnel effect?
Branches on the prevailing wind side grow shorter and the wind leaves footprints on trees. With practice everywhere we go we can see the effect of wind.
22:07 What is the avenue affect?
When you walk through an open area like a path, the branches on either side grow in from the sides seeking out light. We think these branches are like hands and they meet in the middle but if you look closely you will see that the south side provides 2/3 of the branches and the north side a third.
25:04 Is there anything else you would like to share before closing?
When you are walking notice the insects, animals, birds, and ask what is your habitat? Where do you thrive? Notice how trees and plants change as you get closer to water.
8. Please tell us where we can get more information on your work. I do know that your website is
natural navigator.com. IG thenaturalnavigator. Fb the naturalnavigator.
Thank you Tristan Gooley for spending your precious time with us today and for introducing us to the beauty and art of natural navigation – and especially the tree reading art. So dear listeners do pick up How to Read a Tree to enhance your tree-reading skills. And as Tristan asks you to do, “stop by each tree and let the world wait.”
For peer reviewed research on how your time spent in green space can change your mindset, balance your nervous system and your heart rate please go to my website https://treesmendus.com and check out my books Take Back Your Outside Mindset: Live Longer, Stress Less, and Control Your Chronic Illness and Optimize Your Heart Rate: Balance Your Mind and Body With Green Space
