水に覆われた地球に住む私たちの航海の歴史を、科学と技術の進展という立場から概説します。標準的な航海技法が確立する過程で、数学的手法や計器、手引書、海図はどのように取り入れられていったのでしょうか。アストロラーベ、六分儀、クロノメータから、無線受信機、海図、電子機器まで、今日までの船乗りが航行に用いたとてつもなく多くのツール、そして背景にある科学や技術について紹介します。航行学の発展の背景には、商業的ニーズや政治的要素も深く係わっている点にも目を向けます。
　　

• Covers all the major navigational cultures in history, discussing the methods used in navigation across the years
• Introduces the instruments used for navigation, from astrolabes and compasses to modern satellite equipment
• Shows how the science of navigation was driven by commercial aspirations, and shaped by practical and political factors as well as intellectual ones

From the Bronze Age mariners of the Mediterranean to contemporary sailors using satellite-based technologies, the history of navigation at sea, the art of finding a position and setting a course, is fascinating. The scientific and technological developments that have enabled accurate measurements of position were central to exploration, trade, and the opening up of new continents, and the resulting journeys taken under their influence have had a profound influence on world history. 

In this Very Short Introduction Jim Bennett looks at the history of navigation, starting with the distinctive cultures of navigation that are defined geographically - the Mediterranean Sea, and the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. He shows how the adoption of mathematical methods, the use of instruments, the writing of textbooks and the publication of charts all combined to create a more standardised practice. Methods such as longitude-finding by chronometer and lunar distance were complemented by the routine business of recording courses and reckoning position 'by account'. Bennett also introduces the incredible array of instruments relied on by sailors, from astrolabes, sextants, and chronometers, to our more modern radio receivers, electronic equipment, and charts, and highlights the crucial role played by the individual qualities of endeavour and resourcefulness from mathematicians, scientists, and seamen in finding their way at sea. The story of navigation combines the societal, the technical, and the human, and it was vital for shaping the modern world.