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

I saw this book in an Oxford bookstore and looked for it when I returned to the states. The premise is intriguing: become Sherlock Holmes as you're out on a walk, interpreting the clues around you to see things others cannot. In that, the book delivers in spades, especially for the intended audience of British walkers. Don't expect to be able to solve deep mysteries after reading this, but do expect to be able to tell direction, age, nearness of civilization, etc. Gooley stops the list of facts at appropriate intervals to describe walks that act as a review of what was just taught, and he also has a very interesting walk through Borneo at the end. I'm envious of the Brits after reading this book: not only do they have a walking culture, but they have authors like Gooley to explain it to them. Maybe someone can do the same for the Pacific Northwest someday?