It's short and informative but actually quite on the dry side. The first several chapters describe the difficulties encountered by ships attempting to navigate solely based on latitude. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. Trade Paperback. Seems like she repeats the Shovell story nearly every chapter, along with the fact that sailors couldn't determine longitude without a clock. I take GPS for granted. Inferior seamen were not allowed to keep their own calculations of maritime reckoning. The author is not a good story teller, either. While the story is itself fascinating, Dava Sobel is a poor writer and the book reads something like a high school textbook. Andrewes, is breathtaking for its graphic displays, and may I say even more informative over the academic /mechanical rivalry to solve the lontitude question . 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.\" Financial Times \"A true life thriller, jam-packed with political intrigue, international warfare, personal feuds and financial skullduggery.\" Daily Mail \"Rarely have I enjoyed a book as much as Dava Sobel's Longitude. UK Paperback Edition/First Printing. … "A 1964 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, she has taught several seminars in science writing at the university level, and held a two-year residency at Smith College in fall 2013. To help resolve this problem a prize of £20,000 was established to be awarded when a proven solution was established. For me that is the major problem. Also, really short! But it's not that simple because, for example, the equator is wider around the earth than the Tropic of Capricorn or the Arctic Circle. I do not recommend it. Harrison, and the reader, get sucked into a whirlpool of royal and scientific politics, which can get very dirty. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. An amazing man, John Harrison, worked tirelessly to conquer the problem. It has also been criticized as a romantic fantasy. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Thanks to GPS, we can forget that calculating longitude without the help of a network of satellites is difficult and requires great mathematical and engineering expertise. 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." He was one of just two survivors who washed ashore, after their fleet hit the rocks of Scilly and more than two thousand men went to their watery graves in just minutes. Dava Sobel. Reasonably written. This is a copy of the first UK trade paperback edition with a new introduction by Neil Armstrong that has been SIGNED by Dava Sobel with her "41N 72W" notation and is dated 21 Apr 12! A beachcomber found the bedraggled officer...and immediately murdered him for the ring on his finger. Stellar nonfiction, exceptionally well-written. We marveled at the big, intricate perpetually ticking H1, H2 and H3, and ignored the small, silent, seemingly nondescript H4, just like the tourists Dava Sobel noticed in her book. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, $12.35 Shipping & Import Fees Deposit to France. Solved the longitude problem Invented the chronometer Lunar Distance Method "Cook returned from his second voyage with bouquets of praise for the method of finding longitude by means of a timekeeper." First published in 1995 and nominated for the 1997 Royal Society Science Book Prize, the book tells the story of one scientist’s lifelong journey to … Longitude by Dava Sobel. Yet Longitude succeeds in weaving a narrative full of clashing of ideas, intriguing personalities, bizarre anecdotes and at its heart a tale of the little guy challenging the Establishment. He was one of just two survivors who washed ashore, after their fleet hit the rocks of Scilly and more than two thousand men went to their watery graves in just minutes. Financial Times "A true life thriller, jam-packed with political intrigue, international warfare, personal feuds and financial skullduggery." This story is sort of a biography about a person whom the author explains there is not much known. Just finished it and really enjoyed it. Daily Telegraph show more. Longitude. He almost let his £20,000 prize slip away, because he wasn't satisfied with his first clock designed for the sea. Nice, does what. This book is a fascinating history of the development of a mechanical chronometer. It would do well to be required reading in our schools actually as there's so much to be gained in perspective. Reasonably written. Dava Sobel, Writer: Nova. A few years back, I gave him a different watch, a solar-powered so-called atomic watch which is really a quartz watch that can synchronize to real atomic clocks through broadcast towers on three (or was it 4) continents. With a Foreword by Neil Armstrong. Nice, does what it says on the tin type book. George III asked that a special act of Parliament be passed and Harrison finally received his prize. Longitude is the story of John Harrison, the man who invented the first clock accurate enough to keep time at sea, allowing navigators to know exactly where they were on an East-West scale. And yet time refuses to be bottled up like a genie stuffed in a lamp. I remember visiting Royal Museums Greenwich in London with my children several years ago. Also has a cameo appearance by everyone's favorite benignly insane monarch, George III. Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947) is the author of Longitude, Galileo's Daughter, The Planets, and A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. The author treats the difficulties Harrison encountered convincing the Board of Longitude of the efficacy of his devices as a matter of petty politics and egotism without offering the reader suffici. With a new Foreword by the celebrated astronaut Neil Armstrong. Lacking the ability to measure longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea. Karma had the last laugh, as the Admiral went to his own reckoning. As far as popular science writing, or popular history of science writing (take your pick) goes, I've read better books. This one is all about the late 18th century watch maker, John Harrison, who builds a series of highly accurate watches in an attempt to win a prize for a device to be able to establish longitude at sea. “This is a gem of a book.” ―Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times“A simple tale, brilliantly told.” ―Washington Post Book World“As much a tale of intrigue as it is of science…A book full of gems for anyone interested in history, geography, astronomy, navigation, clockmaking, and--not the least--plain old human ambition and greed.” ―Philadelphia Inquirer“Only someone with Dava Sobel's unusual background in both astronomy and psychology could have written it. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. As it was it very much felt like a summary or an abstract rather than the meat of a true historical account, with a s. Maybe Longitude suffered by comparison with my previous read, Amir Alexander's Infinitesimal, but this book felt very light and frothy. The following short review is copied from the calendar. As it was it very much felt like a summary or an abstract rather than the meat of a true historical account, with a sense of disconnect from the events described. Inferior seamen were not allowed to keep their own calculations of maritime reckoning, not in 1707. On October 22, 1707 four English warships crashed into the rocks of the Scilly Isles southwest of England. for such things. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Libro nuevo o segunda mano, sinopsis, resumen y opiniones. This is an extremely disappointing read. Likewise, if you're expecting a a blow-by-blow account of his inventions and dealings with the Board of Longitude, you are also going to be disappointed. 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. In particular Sobel highlights John Harrison's pursuit of the prize. She also received the 2004 Harrison Medal from the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in England and the 2008 Klumpke-Roberts Award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for "increasing the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy. Photo by Ragesoss (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu. Shortly after people discovered that the world was round and wanted to sail around it, they realized that they had no way of telling how far they'd gone and how close they were to where they wanted to be, as opposed to how close they were to the Bermuda Triangle, for example, or the giant. Especially interesting was the English contest for solving the problem. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2018. One of his sailors tried to call attention to the upcoming catastrophe...but was immediately hanged. Along the way, the author highlights some of the more outlandish ideas, one of which involves barking dogs! Since ancient times, seafarers had understood how to measure latitude (concentric circles parallel to the equator) based on the angle of the sun and the time of year. If the sky was clear, the 'clock of the heavens' helped determine the position. That thing will probably be off only a couple of minutes a year. 0 Reviews. Determining a. I'm not quite sure how to classify this book - history, biography, scientific treatise. Unfortunately, the people involved are history's greatest astronomers and physicists. To win the full prize, the method or device had. October 1st 2005 … She holds honorary doctor of letters degrees from the University of Bath, in England, and Middlebury College, Vermont, both awarded in 2002. An engaging overview of the solution(s) to the longitude problem - recommended, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2018. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. The first several chapters describe the difficulties encountered by ships attempting to navigate solely based on latitude. The clock maker who succeeded with that bio-metal strip that did not alter the time by expansion or shrinking of the components became part of the key. He was barely conscious but alive. Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947, The Bronx, New York) is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. The dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest: the search for the solution of how to calculate longitude and the unlikely triumph of an English genius. Published by Fourth Estate 05/09/2005 (2005) ISBN 10: 0007214464 ISBN 13: 9780007214464. https://www.waterstones.com/book/longitude/dava-sobel/9780007214228 Possibly a model for a certain kind of non-fiction book, the type with very long sub-titles that are meant to cast light on a very short main title, the whole presumably being the original elevator pitch that the author made to the publisher. Swiss wrist watch for him. Longitude: the True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel. and Mr John Harrison, and I own a 1990`s copy of Dava`s "Longtitude", but this edition assisted by her- co author, William J.H. Non-fiction about the quest to develop a reliable method for measuring longitude. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. A former staff science reporter for The New York Times, she has also written for numerous magazines, including Discover, Harvard Magazine, Smithsonian, and The New Yorker . It covers the trials and tribulations of Harrison and the rivalry between the astronomers and horologists in the race for the longitude prize. Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world. The introductory chapter has been merited as an unorthodox opening whereby all is revealed in brief, then the rest of the book fills in the detail. Swiss wrist watch for him. Quantity available: 1. Thousands of lives, and the increasing fortunes of nations, hung on a resolution. Turtleback, 1996 - Juvenile Nonfiction - 184 pages. High stakes (both in terms of the potential benefits to be had from being able to use longitude, and in terms of the reward. .orange-text-color {font-weight:bold; color: #FE971E;}Ask Alexa to read your book with Audible integration or text-to-speech. Consequently it did not deal much with the details either of the astronomical or mechanical approaches to solving the problem of finding longitude on the high seas. Shop with confidence on eBay! That thing will probably be off only a couple of minutes a year. The image of the lone genius, prevailing against the odds to make a better world, is an attractive one. The shipwreck of Sir Shovell's fleet, the fact that longitude was impossible to determine, and the term "bimetallic" is the limit of the author's analytical depth in this book. Backing off to the early part of the exponential function, you'd find glacier speeds of innovations (from today's perspective). As most innovation of great magnitude, it was a self-appointed task, completely by an individual. Convert currency. We all knew that before buying this book. Interesting review of the tale toward discovering a correct way to measure longitude for a ship at sea. She has an extraordinary gift of making difficult ideas clear." Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. I have favorable recollections of the book, and I found it to be in interesting story. On October 22, 1707 four English warships crashed into the rocks of the Scilly Isles southwest of England. The necessity this time was navigation -- or more specifically, longitudinal navigation. But longitude (circles which intersect at each pole - used to measure east/west distance) is much more of a challenge. But they are every bit as exciting and important. With Jeremy Irons, Anna Chancellor, Emma Kay, Samuel West. 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