This stimulating account of an attempt to build an intellectual bridge between the ancient navigators of the Pacific Ocean and present-day practitioners of the art and science of navigation... achieves the recording of several successful experiments... The descriptions and the comparisons made between methods make good reading."" - Journal of Navigation

A small, attractive book, a kind of field guide to the stars...the test takes up astronomy old and new, with brief stories of the constellations...short subjects, from the Crab Nebula to black holes and gravitational pulses.

An Ocean in Mind poses a number of provocative questions about the ways in which the human mind acquires, utilizes, and transmits different forms of knowledge. Author Will Kyselka has woven an exploration of this theme around the story of the Hokule'a, a re-creation of a traditional Polynesian sailing vessel that completed a successful roundtrip journey between Hawaii and Tahiti in 1980. From this story emerges portraits of two men who played integral roles in that voyage. Nainoa Thompson, a young man of Hawaiian descent, kept the Hokule'a on its 6,000-mile course using only the stars and the sea as his guides. He was inspired by Carolinian navigator Mau Piailug, a gentle, softspoken man with keen instincts and an unlimited understanding of the oceans and heavens derived from his Oceanic cultural past. Thompson also worked with Kyselka to generate a body of information concerning movement of the stars using the Bishop Museum Planetarium as a resource. How Thompson was eventually able to forge these vastly different approaches to knowledge into a cogent wayfinding system uniquely his own, and his rediscovery of an almost forgotten cultural heritage in the process, makes for a thrilling adventure story.

Ancient geologic events come to life through clear description and artistic vision in this dramatic and fascinating story of Maui's birth and development. This book provides basic knowledge to enhance the experience of exploring Maui by describing how the island emerged, was formed, and is still being shaped by nature's forces of volcano, wind, and water. It also tells how human forces have changed the island. By furthering your knowledge of the land, you will gain a better understanding and deeper feeling for it as you learn the geologic past of familiar landmarks. Maui--How It Came to Be is one of several collaborations between Will Kyselka and Ray Lanterman. They earlier produced the successful and widely acclaimed guide to astronomy, North Star to Southern Cross. Their books are noted for clear and accurate presentation of scientific findings to the general reader.