East is a Big Bird: Navigation and Logic on Puluwat AtollPuluwat Atoll in Micronesia, with a population of only a few hundred proud seafaring people, can fulfill anyone's romantic daydream of the South Seas. Thomas Gladwin has written a beautiful and perceptive book which describes the complex navigational systems of the Puluwat natives, yet has done so principally to provide new insights into the effects of poverty in Western cultures.The cognitive system which enables the Puluwatans to sail their canoes without instruments over trackless expanses of the Pacific Ocean is sophisticated and complex, yet the Puluwat native would score low on a standardized intelligence test. The author relates this discrepancy between performance and measured abilities to the educational problems of disadvantaged children. He presents his arguments simply and clearly, with sensitive and detailed descriptions and many excellent illustrations. His book will appeal to anthropologists, psychologists, and sailing enthusiasts alike. |
Contents
A Sail in the Sun | 1 |
The Way of the Voyager | 33 |
Canoes | 65 |
The Navigators | 125 |
Navigation under the Big Bird | 144 |
Perspectives on Thinking | 214 |
Bibliography | 235 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually Altair AQUILAE Atoll bearing BETA AQUILAE Big Dipper birds boat boom breadfruit canoe house canoe-builder Caroline Islands coconut cognitive complete contours crew drift east edge especially etak Fanur Fayu GAMMA AQUILAE heading heuristics Hipour hull igator Ikuliman instructor keel lagoon Lamotrek land lashings lee platform less Little Dipper mast miles moves Namoluk navigation stars ocean once outrigger float outrigger platform paddling canoes pass perhaps Pikelot Pleiades problems Pulap Pulu Pulusuk Puluwat canoe Puluwat navigation Puluwatans reefs reference island relative rising and setting running sailing canoe sailing directions Saipan Satawal seafaring sealife seaway sheet sight skill Southern Cross star compass star courses star positions stay steering tack Tamatam thinking tion trip Truk Trukese Ulul upwind usually voyage Warieng waves weather Western white tern wind Woleai yard