Longitude

The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

By: Dava Sobel

Narrated by: Kate Reading, Neil Armstrong

An exciting scientific adventure from the days of wooden ships and iron men, Longitude is full of heroism and chicanery, brilliance and the absurd. It is also a captivating brief history of astronomy, navigation and clockmaking.

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....

©2005 Dava Sobel (P)2009 Random House

John Harrison Changed the World!

Some readers may find this book a dry read, but I found it fascinating. One has to imagine a world before Harrison, unable to accurately track movement from east to west or west to east before they can truly appreciate the value of Harrison‘s contribution. I have been to the Prime Meridian at Greenwich and have seen the sea clocks; I could only gaze in amazement at the design, artistry, and accuracy that he injected into his creations. Do yourself a favor and travel to Greenwich England, one day to see his works.

Wonderful example of how scientific discovery works

This book describes the torturous path of scientific discovery from the silly to the funny to the serious solutions to the longitude problem. It details the personal costs to the story’s protagonist to find a solution, Written in conversational language, the book makes complex science and technology easy to follow and interesting to learn. Great book for students, teachers, scientists, and history enthusiasts.

Great Book!

Very interesting story of how humanity finally conqueres the problem of longitude. It was great!

fascinating history of time keeping

I have a much greater appreciation for clocks, time keeping, navigation, and the influence these inventors made on their times.

Surprisingly good

I bought this book in an Amazon Deal and I had no much expectation about it. However, I could stop to read it and finished it in two days. The book has a friendly storytelling approach that engage across not only Harrison’s challenge, but the longitude’s too. Highly recommended for those who like history, watches or a good story.

Longitude

One of my favorite books of all time! Dava Sobel makes this sort of dull subject into an amazing tale.

Fascinating story of human desire to resolve problems

The account of how the longitud problem was solved. And a brilliant mind they lead the effort .

Fascinating story

Liked the detailed storyline. Having a visual timeline would be nice but it’s and audiobook.

A short and satisfying story

Just like the timepieces that become the main characters of this book, the story runs regularly and succinctly. If you're not careful you might just learn something.

Interesting detail and well researched

This was a great, well researched niche story that I would normally love. I read it via audio and i had a hard time staying with the book through the descriptions and differentiations of the different machinations and iterations - I found it boring and tough to follow. i was here for the story; not the technical stuff. i think engineer types will love it more than history buffs. didn’t love the narrator - scratchy and irritating voice