Best Book for Learning Celestial Navigation?

[pressuredrop]

so begins the foray into celestial navigation. i am going tommorrow morning to pick up a brand new davis mk15 sextant for $75, ive got some money on a barnes and noble gift card so i am looking for recommendation for the best book to teach myself celestial nav.

i currently have Celestial Navigation for Yachtsman by Mary Blewitt, circa 1960's. i know nothing has changed, my only gripe about this book, and mary says it herself, is that she in not a math person, so there are no sin and cos, at all in the book. well i am a math person, so i would love a book that frames it all mathematically, or whatever books you consider must have for celestal nav (besides sight reduction tables obviously).

Thanks
Ben

[Tempest245]

I haven't read it yet, but I have heard excellent reviews on

Celestial Navigation in the GPS Age By John Karl

[pressuredrop]

yesss, a book by a physicist, exactly what i am looking for, thanks tempest

[David M]

You can find all the formulas in Bowditch. Its also available online for free since it is a government publication.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_...merican+practi

http://www.irbs.com/bowditch/

[Maren]

Originally Posted by pressuredrop

so i know nothing has changed, my only gripe about this book, and mary says it herself, is that she in not a math person, so there are no sin and cos, at all in the book. well i am a math person, so i would love a book that frames it all mathematically, or whatever books you consider must have for celestal nav (besides sight reduction tables obviously).

Thanks
Ben

Google Armchair Celestial Navigator. No charge. If it meets your needs, use the money for a book on something else nautical like boat repair.

[GordMay]

Ben may be interested in "Astro Navigation by Pocket Computer" ~ by M. J. Harris
➥ Astro Navigation by Pocket Computer (Open Library)

[chala]

Here is something for you.
CELESTIAL NAVIGATION
A Modern Vade-Mecum on Determining the Position of a Vessel
K. Herman Zevering 2008
Printed by: Global Print Brisbane
sorry no ISBN number
more than 267 pages, very good and great reading, it came free with my latest and fifth sextant an ASTRA III.
I must be a sextant freak.