NavList:

I have half a dozen or so books on pocket calculator navigation in my navigation library, but just made a new addition: "Positional Astronomy and Astro-Navigation Made Easy A new approach using the Pocket Calculator" by H. R. Mills (Stanley Thornes 1978).

Honestly, it was the cover illustration which lured me into purchasing it, so I really had no idea what I was getting until it arrived.

Turns out that it is a fun mixed bag of a book. Chapters are organized around the basics (ch2 - the celestial sphere, ch3 -Spherical triangles... etc,) and also around projects to build an astrolabe, different sundials, nocturnals, sun compass, etc. And of course extensive discussion of the maths and how to use a calculator.

There are other books that are more focused, like Conrad Dixon's "Navigtion by Pocket Calculator",  Henry Levison's "Astro-Navigation by Calculator" (a fave of mine as he shows an HP-41 on the book cover), and Rogoff's exhaustive tome "Calculator Navigation." Oh, slightly farther afield, two other another faves of mine are Peter Duffett-Smith's "Practical Astronomy with your Calculator" and Jean Meeus' classic "Astronomical Formulae for Calculators"

But within this genre, Mills' book fills an interesting niche. Apparently he had university students in mind when writing it (He complains at some length "about kids these days" and their mathematical illiteracy) ,  so goes a bit more into the basics than other books. And there are some charming excursions where he speculates about the future of calculator-aided navigation (an "Automated Digital Sextant" anyone?) and comments on the limits of calculator accuracy.

In short, though it would not be the first book on calculator navigation that I would buy, I can recommend Mills' book as a fun addition to any Navlister's library.  Though long out of print, copies can be had atnall the usual places, including esp my favorite source, ABEbooks.

-p

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