Longitude : The True Story Lone Genius Who Solved Greatest Scientific Problem his Time
- Book Review,
by Dava Sobel
Amazon.com
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, VACopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
If you've grown up at a time when orbiting satellites were taken for granted, you'd probably not find reading a book about longitude an enticing prospect. But Sobel, an award-winning former science reporter for the New York Times who writes frequently for Audubon, Discover, LIFE, and Omni magazines, has transformed what could have been a dry subject into an interesting tale of scientific discovery. It is difficult to realize that a problem that can now be solved with a couple of cheap watches and a few simple calculations at one time appeared insurmountable. In 1714, the British Parliament offered a king's ransom of #20 million ($12 million in today's currency) to anyone who could solve the problem of how to measure longitude at sea. Sobel recounts clockmaker John Harrison's lifelong struggle to win this prize by developing a timepiece impervious to the pitch and roll of the sea. His clock, known today as the chronometer, was rejected by the Longitude Board, which favored a celestial solution. Despite some awkward writing, this brief, if at times sketchy, book is recommended for popular science collections.?James Olson, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., ChicagoCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Sobel launches us through the tumult of history and science as merchants, monarchs and mariners wrestle with measuring longitude. Hair-raising tales of miscalculations causing ships to be lost at sea spurred the efforts of astronomers trying to solve the problem. A clock-maker found the answer, but John Harrison endured a lifelong struggle for acknowledgment. The writing is wonderful. Moreover, Sobel's wit, coupled with Jane Jacobs's lovely, liquid tones and dramatic abilities, takes this fascinating topic and makes it an entertaining and erudite production. Even occasionally erratic levels of audio cannot diminish the joy of such fine listening. S.B.S. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
In the 1700s navigators could easily compute latitude, but finding longitude was nigh impossible. So valuable was a solution in terms of saving ships from fetching on rocks that England offered a munificent prize for a practicable method, and soon two avenues offered themselves. An accurate chronometer occupied the thoughts of clockmaker John Harrison, and a tediously compiled catalog of the stars, against which the moon could be used as a "clock," was pursued by astronomers. Sobel presents the contest's course with a stylish mix of technical and human insight that emphasizes Harrison's life and dealings with the stingy Board of Longitude, custodian of the prize. When his contraption, the fruit of decades of solitary labor, went to sea and seemingly met the requirements, the Board balked, not least because one of its members was the very astronomer working on the celestial method. His glory dimmed by raw rivalry, Harrison fell into obscurity, and his chronometers into disrepair until restored 60 years ago. Completing the rehabilitation, Sobel's is an exquisitely told tale of perseverance, disappointment, and vindication. Gilbert Taylor
From Book News, Inc.
This smart little (5x7.5") book contains the engrossing story of John Harrison's (1693-1776) 40-year obsession with the "the longitude problem" which resulted in what is known today as the chronometer, a tool that finally made accurate ocean navigation possible. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Midwest Book Review
Sobel details the quest to solve "the longitude problem", blending biography with history and social science to reveal how a self-taught clock maker answered a king's quest to solve a scientific puzzle. This will prove an excellent, compelling story which entertains as much as educates.
Review
"The marine chronometer is a glorious and fascinating object, but it is not a simple one, and its explanation calls for a writer as skilled with words as the watchmakers were with their tools: happily just such a writer has been found in Dava Sobel." -- Patrick O'Brian, author of The Commodore and the Audrey/Maturin naval series
"Only someone with Dava Sobel's unusual background in both astronomy and psychology could have written it. Longitude is a wonderful story, wonderfully told." -- Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses
"An exquisitely done narrative of the chronometer. It is a wonderful and engrossing achievement." -- William F. Buckley, Jr.
Book Description
During the great ages of exploration, "the longitude problem" was the gravest of all scientific challenges. Lacking the ability to determine their longitude, sailors were literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Ships ran aground on rocky shores; those traveling well-known routes were easy prey to pirates.
In 1714, England's Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. The scientific establishment--from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton--had mapped the heavens in its certainty of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had been able to do on land. And the race was on....
About the Author
Dava Sobel is an award-winning former science reporter for the New York Times, whose work has appeared in Audubon, Discover, Life, and the New Yorker. She lives in East Hampton, New York.
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