Product Description

"Required reading for the beginner in map and compass work, as well as for those interested in serious Orienteering. In simple, clear, concise terms the basics of map and compass work are described and illustrated."
—George T. Hamilton, Appalachia

This new, enlarged edition of Be Expert with Map & Compass includes everything the beginner needs to know about the increasingly popular sport of Orienteering: understanding map symbols; traveling by map alone, by compass alone, or by map and compass together; finding bearings; sketching maps; and traveling in the wilderness. Other updated sections cover competitive Orienteering, how to join an Orienteering event or organize your own, and useful hints for competitive and wilderness Orienteering. In addition to the revisions throughout, the author has interspersed the text with reminiscences of his more than fifty years of experience with map and compass. Drawing crowds of 25,000 participants at international events, the sport of Orienteering is more popular than ever. The Orienteering world championships were held in the United States for the first time in 1993. For Orienteers and scouts, avid outdoorspeople, and anyone who wants to feel more comfortable in the wilderness, this updated guide is an indispensable reference.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #431210 in Books
• Published on: 1994-06-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 242 pages

From the Back Cover
"Required reading for the beginner in map and compass work, as well as for those interested in serious Orienteering. In simple, clear, concise terms the basics of map and compass work are described and illustrated."
—George T. Hamilton, Appalachia

This new, enlarged edition of Be Expert with Map & Compass includes everything the beginner needs to know about the increasingly popular sport of Orienteering: understanding map symbols; traveling by map alone, by compass alone, or by map and compass together; finding bearings; sketching maps; and traveling in the wilderness. Other updated sections cover competitive Orienteering, how to join an Orienteering event or organize your own, and useful hints for competitive and wilderness Orienteering. In addition to the revisions throughout, the author has interspersed the text with reminiscences of his more than fifty years of experience with map and compass. Drawing crowds of 25,000 participants at international events, the sport of Orienteering is more popular than ever. The Orienteering world championships were held in the United States for the first time in 1993. For Orienteers and scouts, avid outdoorspeople, and anyone who wants to feel more comfortable in the wilderness, this updated guide is an indispensable reference.

About the Author
Björn Kjellström, an enthusiastic outdoorsman, experienced wilderness traveler, and cross–country skier, is a former Swedish champion in Orienteering. His writings on the subject have been published in several languages. He was one of the founders of the Swedish Orienteering Federation, the first of its kind in the world, and also of the U.S. Orienteering Federation. He was a director of the U.S. Orienteering Federation for several years and was vice president of the International Ski Federation from 1951 to 1979. He was born in Sweden and now lives in Pound Ridge, New York.

Customer Reviews

How do you use a compass?
A good guide on how to use a compass to navigate in the backcountry. It also goes into details of the sport of orienteering. Many practice examples, and orienteering exercises included. If you plan on using a GPS with a compass, and aren't interested in orienteering, get 'GPS Land Navigation; A Complete Guidebook for Backcountry Users of the NAVSTAR Satellite System,' it tells everything you need to know to use a compass, plus how to use it with a GPS.

Overrated and Outdated
This was the first book I ever bought on the subject of using a map and compass for the purpose of navigating in remote wilderness areas. It was recommended by everyone I knew, as there wasn't a whole lot else out there at the time, and it had been in print since 1955. Unfortunately, much of Kjellstrom's book deals with the sport of orienteering, which has about as much relationship to practical land navigation as an ocean cruise does to open-water sailing. About the best I can say for Kjellstrom's book is that it is better for beginners than the Sierra Club Handbook (also an old book), but that's about it. Illustrations are few and muddy, and the book has an ancient feel to it, with outdated references and quirky language (it's been in print for nearly 50 years, and the author died nearly 10 years ago when in his nineties). As I mentioned, fully half the book doesn't even deal with real-life wilderness navigation, but is instead devoted to the sport of orienteering (a fine sport, but with little relevance to practical backcountry navigation with its use of special large scale maps and specialized compasses used only to orient the map to north).

To conclude, the book is simply outdated and outmuscled by modern competitors. If you want to acquire map and compass skills for real-life wilderness travel, have a look at books such as The Essential Wilderness Navigator, or The Compass & Map Navigator.

Not illuminating
I think this may be a book whose time has passed. I bought this hoping for some tips on orienteering, but large parts of the book are a mixture of the blindingly obvious and the really not very helpful. Its not helped by having been written in the pre-micro chip (pre-mains electricity?) era, which means lots of stuff is just hoplessly dated.

The tips it does have on orienteering could be covered in twenty pages and can be found on the websites of many a club these days. I think there must be a market for a short more focussed booklet which would be much more helpful than this.

On the plus side there are many suggestions for training exercises which I suspect could be useful to anyone running a club or hands on courses. Also, the weird language used and the stilted tone gave much entertainment to my family during a wet week in Tenby. Even the title seems to have suffered in translation.