Product Description

Anyone Alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day - and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations, hung on a resolution.

The quest for a solution had occupied scientists and their patrons for the better part of two centuries when, in 1714, the Parliament upped the ante by offering a king's ransom (20,000) to anyone whose method or device proved successful. Countless quacks weighed in with preposterous suggestions. The scientific establishment throughout Europe - from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton - had mapped the heavens in both hemispheres in its certain pursuit 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 ever been able to do on land.

Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest, and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, brilliance and the absurd, it is also fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation and clockmaking. Through Dava Sobel's consumate skill, Longitude will open a new window on our world for all who read it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66497 in Books
• Published on: 1998-06-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 189 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The thorniest scientific problem of the 18th 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. --Amazon.com

Financial Times
Dava Sobel has written a gem of a book...one of the best reads for the non-scientific writing to come along for many a moon."

Daily Mail
"A true life thriller, jam-packed with political intrigue, international warfare, personal feuds and financial skullduggery."

Customer Reviews

Massively overrated
This is an absurdly overrated book. Dava Sobel has found an interesting story that she is simply incapable of doing justice to.

Anybody with any background knowledge (or in fact a scientific background) will be unsatisfied by this.

You wont read a better book
This is one of the most competently told stories I have ever read. And itis a truly inspiring story. Really, make time to read it. I am a trainedastro-navigator, but until I read this book I never really fullyapreciated the impoortance of my cheap plastic wristwatch. In the days ofGPS it is easy to forget what went before.
Brilliant.

What a great little book!
Just to prove that the most wonderful stories can be produced from true life, this science book for the layman tells the irresistable tale of John Harrison, winner of the English Parliament's prize for the determination of longitude in 1770.

This is a tiny book in the paperback version, and makes for a rapid but extremely satisfying read. Political intrigue, fascinating science and excellent incidental anecdotes abound. (My favourite occurs right at the beginning - the tale of a haughty admiral who has an uppity sailor hanged for daring to question his navigation, and who receives his comeuppance in the most deliciously ironic way.... and it's all true!)

Most of all, it brings into focus the concept of a "life's work" - John Harrison's dogged faithfulness to producing the world's most accurate chronograph in a practical, portable package. The sheer thought of spending 19 years perfecting just one variation of it is inconceivable; that he spent over 40 years refining his concept to the eventual prizewinning piece just boggles the mind.

This is a delightful read.