When writer and navigator Tristan Gooley journeys outside, he sees a natural world filled with clues. The roots of a tree indicate the sun's direction; the Big Dipper tells the time; a passing butterfly hints at the weather; a sand dune reveals prevailing wind; the scent of cinnamon suggests altitude; a budding flower points south. To help you understand nature as he does, Gooley shares more than 850 tips for forecasting, tracking, and more, gathered from decades spent walking the landscape around his home and around the world. Whether you're walking in the country or city, along a coastline, or by night, this is the ultimate resource on what the land, sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, and clouds can reveal--if you only know how to look!

Publisher's Note: The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs was previously published in the UK under the title The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs.

Trees are keen to tell us so much. They'll tell us about the land, the water, the people, the animals, the weather, and time. And they will tell us about their lives, the good bits and bad. Trees tell a story, but only to those who know how to read it.

In How to Read a Tree, Gooley uncovers the clues hiding in plain sight: in a tree's branches and leaves; its bark, buds, and flowers; even its stump. Leaves with a pale, central streak mean that water is nearby. Young, low-growing branches show that a tree is struggling. And reddish or purple bark signals new growth.

Like snowflakes, no two trees are exactly the same. Every difference reveals the epic story this tree has lived--if we stop to look closely.

When most of us go for a walk, a single sense--sight--tends to dominate our experience. But when New York Times-bestselling author and expert navigator Tristan Gooley goes for a walk, he uses all five senses to read everything nature has to offer. A single lowly weed can serve as his compass, calendar, clock, and even pharmacist.

In How to Read Nature, Gooley introduces readers to his world--where the sky, sea, and land teem with marvels. Plus, he shares 15 exercises to sharpen all of your senses. Soon you'll be making your own discoveries, every time you step outside!

In The Secret World of Weather, bestselling author Tristan Gooley turns his gaze up to the sky, bringing his signature brand of close observation and eye-opening deduction to the fascinating world of weather. Every cloud, every change in temperature, every raindrop, every sunbeam, every breeze reveals something about our weather--if you know what to look for. Before you know it, you'll be able to forecast impending storms, sunny days, and everything in between, all without needing to consult your smartphone.

But The Secret World of Weather goes far beyond mere weather prediction, changing the very way we think about weather itself. Weather is not something that blankets an area; rather, it changes constantly as you walk through woods or turn down a street. The weather is never identical on two sides of a tree--or even beneath it. Take, for example, Gooley's remarkable discovery that breezes accelerate beneath a tree. To Gooley, this is weather, a tiny microclimate that explains why people sit beneath a tree to cool down--not only for the shade but, subconsciously, for cooler breeze. And so Gooley shows us not only what the weather will be like five days from now, but also what to expect about the weather around every corner.

By carefully observing the subtle interplay of wind, cloud, fog, temperature, rain and many other phenomena, we not only form a deeper understanding of weather patterns, but also unlock secrets about our environment. Weather forms our landscape, and landscape forms our weather. Everything we see in the sky reflects where we are. When we learn to read weather's signs, Gooley shows us, the weather becomes our map, revealing to us how it has made our towns, cities, woods, and hills what they are. You'll never see your surroundings the same way again.

When most of us go for a walk, a single sense--sight--tends to dominate our experience. But when New York Times-bestselling author and expert navigator Tristan Gooley goes for a walk, he uses all five senses to read everything nature has to offer. A single lowly weed can serve as his compass, calendar, clock, and even pharmacist.

In How to Read Nature, Gooley introduces readers to his world--where the sky, sea, and land teem with marvels. Plus, he shares 15 exercises to sharpen all of your senses. Soon you'll be making your own discoveries, every time you step outside!

Before GPS, before the compass, and even before cartography, humankind was navigating. A windswept tree, the depth of a puddle, or a trill of birdsong could point the way home, and they still do--if you know how to look.

With The Natural Navigator, his first book, Tristan Gooley invited us to notice the directional clues hidden all around: in the sun, moon, stars, clouds, weather patterns, lengthening shadows, changing tides, growing plants, and habits of wildlife. A decade after publication, this modern classic still reminds us that we can find south by joining the horns of the crescent moon--and find adventure in our own backyards.

Clocks, compasses, GPS, and Google can only get us so far. In this special collection, lifelong wanderer and New York Times-bestselling author Tristian Gooley walks us through, book-by-book, the near-forgotten art of examining nature's signs and patterns. Gooley begins to teach the singular way he senses signs in the wild that most people overlook in How to Read Nature. In The Natural Navigator, he shows how to find our way by the stars, rivers, clouds, and more. And New York Times bestseller How to Read Water is Gooley's deep dive into everything from puddles to the sea, teaching navigators at any experience level to hear the whispers of water. Also included: a waterproof pocket field notebook to kick-start your own adventures! This comprehensive set includes:

• How to Read Nature
• How to Read Water
• The Natural Navigator 10th Anniversary Edition
• Bonus waterproof pocket field notebook

Publisher's note: The Nature Instinct was published in the UK under the title Wild Signs and Star Paths.

Master outdoorsman Tristan Gooley was just about to make camp when he sensed danger--but couldn't say why. After sheltering elsewhere, Gooley returned to investigate: What had set off his subconscious alarm?

Suddenly, he understood: All of the tree trunks were slightly bent. The ground had already shifted once and could easily become treacherous in a storm.

The Nature Instinct shows how we, too, can unlock this intuitive understanding of our surroundings. Learn to sense the forest's edge from deep in the woods, or whether a wild animal might pose danger--before you even know how you know.

Readers of master outdoorsman Tristan Gooley have learned that the world is filled with clues to look for--we can use the Big Dipper to tell time, for example, and a budding flower to find south. But what about the innate survival instincts that told Gooley to move on one night, just as he was about to make camp? Everything looked perfect, but something felt wrong. When Gooley returned to his abandoned campsite to search for clues, there they were: All of the tree trunks were slightly bent. The ground had already shifted once in a storm--and could easily shift again, becoming treacherous in heavy rain.

The Nature Instinct shows us how Gooley and other expert observers--from hunters in the English countryside to the Pygmy people in the Congo--have recovered and rekindled this lost sixth sense; a subconscious, deeper understanding of our surroundings. By training ourselves through slow, careful observation, we too can unlock this kind of intuition--for finding the forest's edge when deep in the woods, or knowing when a wild animal might pose danger--without even having to stop to think about it.

Publisher's note: The Nature Instinct was published in the UK under the title Wild Signs and Star Paths.

A deep knowledge of our natural environment is no longer a vital part of everyday survival, certainly for those of us living in cities and working in weatherproof offices. Unless we have an inherent love of the great outdoors, do we really need to connect with nature? Bestselling author Tristan Gooley believes that real connection, no matter how small, can enrich us as individuals, allowing us to see every living thing in its own intricate network. Offering a host of techniques, he helps us awaken our senses and deepen our understanding of nature's cycles, conflicts and relationships. By cultivating the right mindset we can gain a better appreciation of the world, both indoors and outdoors.

One in the new series of books from The School of Life, launched January 2014:

How to Age by Anne Karpf

How to Develop Emotional Health by Oliver James

How to Be Alone by Sara Maitland

How to Deal with Adversity by Christopher Hamilton

How to Think About Exercise by Damon Young

How to Connect with Nature by Tristan Gooley