Pathway of the Birds: The Voyaging Achievements of Māori and Their Polynesian Ancestors

Winner of NZ Heritage Book Award 2019Winner of two Ka Palapala Po'okela Awards 2019Storylines Notable Book Award 2019Best of 2019 - Radio New Zealand National: 'absolutely one of the best books I have ever read'Top Ten Non-Fiction for 2018 - Auckland LibrariesTop Reads of 2018 - Weekend Herald Podcast of author interview available at rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018730927/andrew-crowe-pathway-of-the-birdsThe skill of Polynesian navigators to find and re-find incredibly small and/or remote targets far exceeds that of early Greeks, Romans, Vikings, Indians and Chinese, so how did Pacific wayfinders do this without instruments? Hawaiian master navigator Nainoa Thompson shares the key: 'Everything you need to navigate is in nature. The question is, can you see it?' In this illustrated multi-level book, natural history writer Andrew Crowe elaborates at length on this skill and how it contributes to a deeper understanding of one of the most expansive and rapid phases of human migration in prehistory, a period during which Polynesians reached and settled nearly every archipelago scattered across some 28 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, an area now known as East Polynesia. Cover, Contents page and Foreword by Patrick V. Kirch available at independent.academia.edu/crowea.