Best celnav books available in 2025

[ZephyrNYC]

Merry Christmas to you all and to your loved ones. We are a week away from 2025. Happy advance new year to you all.

In your opinion, what are the best and most thorough "how to" books on celnav that are still currently in print or otherwise available in 2025? What are the best and most thorough books of all time that are no longer in print or available (such as rare or limited distribution books)?



Sincerely,

Frank A.

[CarlosPindle]

[quote pid="978" dateline="1735126268"]
Frank,

Thank you for the warm wishes and the same to you and your family.

As to books, there are a lot out there.  This is my opinion as I'm no expert in CN.  However, to be blunt- most books are not of much help and you'll be on the rocks long before you understand what they're talking about. It seems that the authors have intentionally made the work impossible to be comprehended unless you have a phD in mathematics. Keep in mind that most navigators of old were uneducated- but they sure did get their ships to port.

Those pleasantries aside, William F. Buckley jr. is excellent and was how I learned to make observations by the Sun and plot an LOP. The following is just a link to the DVD.  There's a book that goes with it (but not sold in the link below). You can find the book on Ebay. It's excellent...it really is. You can also watch the video on Vimeo for a few dollars.

Here- https://www.celestaire.com/product/willi...ey-jr-dvd/


Best of luck,

Carlos

[/quote]

[ZephyrNYC]

[quote pid="978" dateline="1735126268"]
Thanks for your quick reply, Carlos. I checked out multiple books from the library a couple years ago.I'm still searching.

Sincerely,
Frank A.


Frank,

Thank you for the warm wishes and the same to you and your family.

As to books, there are a lot out there.  This is my opinion as I'm no expert in CN.  However, to be blunt- most books are not of much help and you'll be on the rocks long before you understand what they're talking about. It seems that the authors have intentionally made the work impossible to be comprehended unless you have a phD in mathematics. Keep in mind that most navigators of old were uneducated- but they sure did get their ships to port.

Those pleasantries aside, William F. Buckley jr. is excellent and was how I learned to make observations by the Sun and plot an LOP. The following is just a link to the DVD.  There's a book that goes with it (but not sold in the link below). You can find the book on Ebay. It's excellent...it really is. You can also watch the video on Vimeo for a few dollars.

Here- https://www.celestaire.com/product/willi...ey-jr-dvd/


Best of luck,

Carlos

[/quote]

[PeterB]

There are many celestial navigation books out there.  I do not know of a single one that I consider to be head and shoulders above the others as "the best," but for new students there is one book that I advise you buy strait off.  That is a HARD COPY of The Nautical Almanac.

Yes, you can look at the scanned pages in the various course books, and you can get digital copies of just about any year Nautical Almanac you want right here on this sight. But the Nautical Almanac is full of tables and numbers that at first blush can be confusing.  There is no substitute for having a hard copy at  your elbow as you work through any cel-nav course, self taught or otherwise.

All recent Nautical Almanacs have the same format so once you "get the hang of it" you can find your way around in digital copies with ease. But starting out you should get at least one hard copy of recent edition. It doesn't have to be exactly current, but there does not seem to be much savings in getting one that is out of date by a year or two, so a current edition is a good place to start.

Here is one source, but you can get them from various book sellers and suppliers. Inside they are all pretty much the same.

https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/nauti...-year-2025

Also it is apparently possible to use out of date Nautical Almanacs into future years with some minor corrections, so when the year changes don't toss your hard copy in the trash.

PeterB