Dava Sobel

Author profile

born

January 01, 1947 in The United States

gender

female

website

http://www.davasobel.com/

genre

Nonfiction, History, Science

About this author

edit data

Dava Sobel is a writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and Binghamton University. Her works include:

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (1995) - the genius in question was John Harrison, who spent decades trying to convince the British Admiralty of the accuracy of his naval timepieces and their use in determining longitude when at sea in order to win the longitude prize. The book itself won the 1997 British Book of the Year award.

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love (2000)

The Best American Science Writing 2004 (editor)

The Planets: A discourse on the discovery, science, history and myt...more

29 posts
Dava Sobel's Blog

Dava Sobel isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but she does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from her feed.

Venus in Transit

I’ve spent this week at the Sydney Writers’ Festival in Australia, where I had the honor of giving the closing address on a topic of high local interest: the upcoming Transit of Venus. The rare passage of Venus across the Sun’s face will be visible from all of eastern Australia, weather permitting, on June 6. Not only will locals get to see the six-plus-hour event in its entirety, but the histo...

View more on Dava Sobel's website »

0 comments

•

Published on May 22, 2012 11:06 • 8 views

View all 29 posts »

combine editions
Books by Dava Sobel

Average rating: 3.74 · 17,636 ratings · 1,810 reviews · 17 distinct works

	Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time by Dava Sobel, Neil Armstrong (Foreword) 3.86 avg rating — 9,205 ratings — published 1994 — 55 editions	My rating:
	Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love 3.61 avg rating — 6,882 ratings — published 1999 — 41 editions	My rating:
	The Planets 3.50 avg rating — 1,098 ratings — published 2005 — 19 editions	My rating:
	A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos 3.37 avg rating — 223 ratings — published 2011 — 8 editions	My rating:
	The Best American Science Writing 2004 by Dava Sobel (Editor), Jesse Cohen (Series Editor) 4.00 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 2004 — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Incredible Planets: New Views of the Solar Family 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	My rating:
	Arthritis, What Exercises Work: Breakthrough Relief For The Rest Of Your Life, Even After Drugs & Surgery Have Failed by Arthur C. Klein, Dava Sobel 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1989 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Backache: What Exercises Work by Arthur C. Klein, Dava Sobel 3.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1994 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Haven: The Dramatic Story of 1,000 World War II Refugees and How They Came to America by Ruth Gruber, Dava Sobel (Foreword by) 4.20 avg rating — 106 ratings — published 1983 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Letters to Father: Suor Maria Celeste to Galileo, 1623-1633 by Suor Maria Celeste, Dava Sobel (Translator), Virginia Galilel 3.80 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2002	My rating:

More books by Dava Sobel…

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Quotes by Dava Sobel

“[John] Harrison [could not] express himself clearly in writing.... No matter how brilliantly ideas formed in his mind, or crystallized in his clockworks, his verbal descriptions failed to shine with the same light.... The first sentence [of his last published work] runs on, virtually unpunctuated, for twenty-five pages." Dava Sobel, Longitude, p66”
― Dava Sobel

4 people liked it

“Any clock that can track this sideral schedule proves itself as perfect as God's magnificent clockwork.

Dava Sobel”
― Dava Sobel, Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time

tags: clocks , earth-rotation , science , stars , time

1 person liked it

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Readers and Reading: July Chat	85	76	Jul 31, 2009 02:04pm
Pick-a-Shelf: 2010-07 - History - Post July Reviews Here	60	94	Aug 01, 2010 10:18am
Pick-a-Shelf: If you don't post a quote, you are HISTORY!	36	90	Aug 16, 2010 12:54pm
75 Books: Will's 75 Books	100	93	Sep 22, 2010 06:52am
UK Book Club: Em's List	174	194	Dec 26, 2010 02:48pm
The Book Challenge: Connie M's Book Challenge for 2010 - COMPLETED!!	56	69	Jan 01, 2011 01:24pm
The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2010-2011 Completed Tasks (do not delete any posts)	2596	666	Feb 28, 2011 09:05pm
Pick-a-Shelf: 2011-02 - Science - What Will You Read in February?	56	72	Mar 06, 2011 06:25pm

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Dava to Goodreads.

Dava's Fans (47)