Practical Navigation Nutshell Series Book 1

PREFACE TO THE 6TH EDITION

Very minor editorial changes to the fifth edition have been made based on feedback from students and teachers of the subject. I have added ‘The signs of the Zodiac’ in chapter 17. Mumbai

1st Feb 2015(H. Subramaniam)

PREFACE TO THE 5TH EDITION

The overwhelming response, in India and abroad, to the ‘Nutshell Series’ of books written by me, especially this first one – ‘Practical Navigation’ – has encouraged me to keep thinking of ways by which improvements could be made with each subsequent edition.

In this edition, there are several improvements which include:

1. Increase in content to cover the entire theory and practicals needed for all levels of officers.
2. Inclusion of colour drawings to not only make them attractive but also to better illustrate their contents.
3. Removal of the Havesine formulae in calculations as this has become extinct nowadays, as scientific calculators are used by most people afloat and ashore.
4. Change from the earlier ‘Amplitude’ of the sun and moon to the ‘Rising/setting azimuth’ which is easier and has been used in ‘Norie’s Nautical Tables’.
5. The explanations in astronomy using the ‘Helio-centric’, the ‘Geo-centric’ and the ‘Observer-centric’ concepts.
6. The use of A, B, C Tables and the Intercept formula to calculate initial and final courses and the distance on a great circle track.
7. The use of the second person approach – ‘you’ – instead of the dull third person such as ‘It can be seen from diagram that …’.
8. Increase in the page size from A5 to A4 so that the book does not become too thick.