Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Product Details
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The thorniest scientific problem of the eighteenth century was how to determine longitude. Many thousands of lives had been lost at sea over the centuries due to the inability to determine an east-west position. This is the engrossing story of the clockmaker, John "Longitude" Harrison, who solved the problem that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer, yet claimed only half the promised rich reward.
From Publishers Weekly
This look at the scientific quest to find a way for ships at sea to determine their longitude was a PW bestseller for eight weeks.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA?Opening with a chapter that outlines what follows, Sobel whets readers' appetites for hearing the colorful details of the search for a way for mariners to determine longitude. In an age when ships' stores were limited and scurvy killed many a seaman, missing a landfall often meant death?as, of course, did running aground. Sobel provides a lively treatment of the search through the centuries for a ready answer to the longitude problem, either through using lunar tables or through making an accurate clock not subject to the vicissitudes of weather and ocean conditions. Her account includes not only scientific advances, but also the perseverance, pettiness, politics, and interesting anecdotes that figured in along the way (it wasn't limes, for example, that first prevented scurvy on English ships, but sauerkraut). A pleasing mixture of basic science, cultural history, and personality conflicts makes this slim volume a winner.?Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Customer Reviews
It is written in plain english, without complicate words and ideas
With this book you can get very entertained. It is written in plain english, without complicate words and ideas; it explains the relation between time keeping and navigation problems in a very clear way: In the future I would like to read a Sobel's book about atomic clocks!
I recommend this book, not only for people interested on science and history but also for those that are studying english as a second language.
A short novel on longitude that's well worth your time
Who knew a short novel about "longitude" and a humble clockmaker's invention that perfected nautical navigation could be so engrossing? Author Dava Sobel weaves a spellbinding account of John Harrison, and how his new invention called a "chronometer," was the topic contender for the "X Prize" of its day -- discovering a reliable means of computing a ship's longitude at sea. Politics, conflicts of personality, ego, and other dramatic elements make this book not only an educational read, but also a fun (and relatively short) novel.
This book was recommended to me, and I have to say I was a bit skeptical at first. But I decided to give it a go, and I have to say that it was really hard to put down this book. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading good underdog stories -- or is simply curious about a technology that, though resisted at first, quite literally redrew the map of the world.
Longitude - Great for science-minded kids over 10
I bought this for my visiting grandson. We had a fine time reading it together and discussing what a great invention longitude was, how many sailors' lives it saved, and the way the inventor had to fight to get the prize offered by the government for finding a way for sailors to know their exact location. I finally know why Greenwich is the "center" of time measurement. Easy to understand and yet very comprehensive on this fundamental subject.
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