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Last Navigator: A Young Man, an Ancient Mariner, a Secret of the Sea
 
 
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Last Navigator: A Young Man, an Ancient Mariner, a Secret of the Sea (Paperback)

by Stephen D. Thomas (Author) "The plane seemed to hover in the pink cumulus clouds as the first sunlight spilled over the Koolau mountains and down the green slopes to..." (more)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 307 pages
  • Publisher: TAB Books Inc; New edition edition (1 Nov 1997)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0070645744
  • ISBN-13: 978-0070645745
  • Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,650,475 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #20 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Australia & New Zealand > Micronesia

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Product Description

Book Description

Nonfiction account of a young American man's sojourn in the South Pacific, on the Micronesian island of Satawal in the Caroline archipelago, studying traditional navigation with Mau Piailug, the last of the palus. It was Piailug who navigated a Polynesian vessel from Hawaii to Tahiti without compass or charts, as documented by a PBS film of the voyage. Thomas learns how to navigate by stars, wind, swell, birds, and memory. It is a story of seafaring, a dying culture, and self-discovery.


From the Back Cover

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."

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The plane seemed to hover in the pink cumulus clouds as the first sunlight spilled over the Koolau mountains and down the green slopes to lap against the hotels and office buildings of Honolulu. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars The best of science, courage, navigation lore and adventure., 24 Sep 1998
By A Customer
The original edition of Thomas' saga showed an excellent example of the truly gifted amateur contributing to the practical art of cultural analysis. Drawn to solve a personal intellectual problem on how the early polynesians navigated, Thomas chose the solution of walking in their "mocassins" or paddling in their canoes, learning their language and living their culture. I found his journey as intriguing as the quests of Oliver Sachs(Island of the Color-blind People) or Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs and Civilization) and as intricate as Dva Sobel's tracing of the development of the Chronometer (Longitude). His tool of learning about these people by choosing their most precious historical achievement was inspired. His report by cross-referencing his modern "quantified" vision with their "common sense" qualitative analysis of the sea and its trails is a fascinating tale of multi-cultural experiences. Will he ever return? Even if the island culture is forever changed, one can only hope that he will in some way give us a follow-up picture. Professional scientists and anthropologists should note that Thomas' approach solves the "solipsistic problem" of intercultural communication as effectively as the "Seti Project" hopes to in the future. It is as interesting as Carl Sagan's fiction-- "Contact", but much closer than one might imagine.
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5.0 out of 5 stars The best of science, courage, navigation lore and adventure., 24 Sep 1998
By A Customer
The original edition of Thomas' saga showed an excellent example of the truly gifted amateur contributing to the practical art of cultural analysis. Drawn to solve a personal intellectual problem on how the early polynesians navigated, Thomas chose the solution of walking in their "mocassins" or paddling in their canoes, learning their language and living their culture. I found his journey as intriguing as the quests of Oliver Sachs(Island of the Color-blind People) or Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs and Civilization) and as intricate as Dva Sobel's tracing of the development of the Chronometer (Longitude). His tool of learning about these people by choosing their most precious historical achievement was inspired. His report by cross-referencing his modern "quantified" vision with their "common sense" qualitative analysis of the sea and its trails is a fascinating tale of multi-cultural experiences. Will he ever return? Even if the island culture is forever changed, one can only hope that he will in some way give us a follow-up picture. Professional scientists and anthropologists should note that Thomas' approach solves the "solipsistic problem" of intercultural communication as effectively as the "Seti Project" hopes to in the future. It is as interesting as Carl Sagan's fiction-- "Contact", but much closer than one might imagine.
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4.0 out of 5 stars excellent story about a man learning to live in ancient time, 14 Sep 1998
By A Customer
Steve Thomas's exploration of the ancient way of navigation in the Pacific Ocean, shows how ancient navigators and modern man clash in a strugle of the sea. Thomas learns about himself when he goes to the Pacif to train under the pau to learn ancient ways of sailing. He also learns about his relationship with Pau and his own father in this touching story of sailing and life. I highly recommend this book for anyone intrested in sailing, ancient navigation and the ways other cultures has strugled with the modernization of their land and beliefs.
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