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9th out of 565 books
—
840 voters
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time
On its 10th anniversary, a gift edition of this classic book, with a forward by one of history's greatest explorers, and eight pages of color illustrations.
Anyone alive in the eighteeth century would have known that "the logitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors thr...more
Anyone alive in the eighteeth century would have known that "the logitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors thr...more
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
October 1st 2005
by Walker & Company
(first published 1995)
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Apr 07, 2010
Mahlon
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who like science, or nautical themes
Recommended to Mahlon by:
A&E
In Longitude, Dava Sobel chronicles the world's quest to tame time. In 1714, the English Parliament passed the longitude act. It established the Board of Longitude and offered a prize of 20,000 pounds to anyone who could find a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. In particular Sobel highlights John Harrison's pursuit of the prize. She traces the arc of his career, and details the innovations of each of his subsequent entries (H1-H5) Unfortunately, eve...more
I first read Longitude, by Dava Sobel, just after I finished high school, and I devoured it in a sitting or two. It was the first non-fiction book, I think, that I really couldn't put down.
The (true) story is great: legendary historical figures like Isaac Newton, Galileo, James Cook, King George III; scientific conundrums; innovative engineering; a ransom of millions at stake; and a humble, lone man competing against oppressive and manipulative big-wigs.
Background: Latitude lines are the parall...more
The (true) story is great: legendary historical figures like Isaac Newton, Galileo, James Cook, King George III; scientific conundrums; innovative engineering; a ransom of millions at stake; and a humble, lone man competing against oppressive and manipulative big-wigs.
Background: Latitude lines are the parall...more
I dunno. I feel like I was missing something. It felt geeky, but it didn't help me feel like I really learned anything. It's short, but it took me a long time to read. Maybe better editing would have helped Sobol focus on what to explain more carefully, and what to discuss concisely.
I did like this quote: "Timepieces don't really keep time. They just keep up with it, if they're able."
And I did like the point about the moon's movement. The thing is, I've been feeling a sense of unease that I have...more
I did like this quote: "Timepieces don't really keep time. They just keep up with it, if they're able."
And I did like the point about the moon's movement. The thing is, I've been feeling a sense of unease that I have...more
1 like · like · see review
This little book tells the story of how inventors attempted to solve the vexing problem of obtaining a critical part in calculating longitude -- having a reliable timepiece providing accurate, standardized time on the sea. It's a surprisingly exciting tale: there was a contest, a rich reward and a deadline for entries. Before this problem was solved, sailors could calculate latitude by the stars but longitude required consistent, reliable timekeeping in all ocean conditions from one fixed point....more
2 likes · like · see review
As far as popular science writing, or popular history of science writing (take your pick) goes, I've read better books. This is a book about a self-taught village clock-maker who created a whole new breed of amazingly precise chronometers, which enable the accurate measurement of longitude, and the fight he had with astronomers to get his solution recognised (and rewarded). High stakes (both in terms of the potential benefits to be had from being able to use longitude, and in terms of the reward...more
Old review from 2005.
Since my fondest wish is to sail the high seas of the 19th century, I need to learn how to find myself without GPS. I also love this cover: a violent sea dashing ships to splinters, and, from on high, a man, in a wig, with a clock, come to deliver the poor dogs from ignorance. Interesting story, filled with many an odd character. Made me want an olde time pocket watch. I was actually constantly thinking of Hicksville while I was reading this book, and the Captain Cook / Hone...more
Since my fondest wish is to sail the high seas of the 19th century, I need to learn how to find myself without GPS. I also love this cover: a violent sea dashing ships to splinters, and, from on high, a man, in a wig, with a clock, come to deliver the poor dogs from ignorance. Interesting story, filled with many an odd character. Made me want an olde time pocket watch. I was actually constantly thinking of Hicksville while I was reading this book, and the Captain Cook / Hone...more
1 like · like · see review
I'm not quite sure how to classify this book - history, biography, scientific treatise. But I found it intriguing and educational. It had never occurred to me how different latitude and longitude are. 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. But longitude (circles which intersect at each pole - used to measure east/west distance) is much more of a challenge. Determining a...more
Jun 03, 2007
Emily
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
History-of-science and gadget geeks
Shelves:
non-fiction
To quote an esteemed LC history professor on the technical difficulties of pre-modern navigational technology: "Nowadays, you'd refer to that as being lost. But they actually thought they could get somewhere." 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...more
2 likes · like · see review
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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3 likes · like · see review
A short little history of the various attempts to solve the longitude problem. I have encountered this same story briefly before in a book I read last year, The Mapmakers by by John Noble Wilford, but this book focuses more exclusively on John Harrison and his battle for getting his highly accurate chronometers accepted by the English Parliament as an acceptable method for determining longitude.
Again, a great book you can learn a lot from. Who has ever really thought about what effect the lack of a way to find longitude caused for sailors - first chapter you read about one ship that fought a storm for two months, thought they were 200 miles west of where they were, sailed north and then west, gave up after 4 days and sailed east only to realize a week later that they were within an hour of thier destination before they turned around. I love the connections this book makes- because they...more
May 05, 2011
Paleomichi
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
p,
viaggi,
storia,
della,
scienza,
matematica,
saggi,
londra,
inghilterra,
impatto,
sulla,
società,
grandi,
scienziati
Quando sono andata a Greenwich mi sono innamorata della storia della longitudine, e al bookshop ho comprato il famoso libro "Longitude", di Dava Sobel. Ho iniziato a leggerlo pochissimo tempo dopo, ma non ci ho capito molto e l'ho lasciato perdere. Poi, ritrovandolo in italiano, l'ho ripreso in mano.
Il libro racconta la storia del calcolo della longitudine, che finisce con diventare la storia degli orologi moderni, e del loro inventore, Harrison. La storia è bellissima, ma il libro non regge il...more
Il libro racconta la storia del calcolo della longitudine, che finisce con diventare la storia degli orologi moderni, e del loro inventore, Harrison. La storia è bellissima, ma il libro non regge il...more
Apr 24, 2013
Andrew
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
travel-and-exploration
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I had gotten glowing recommendations for this book, but it left me disappointed. For a book about the history of technology, there's precious little technology in the book: Harrison's marine chronometers are repeatedly praised, but there's little in the way of description of how they work, or why they represented such an advance in clockmaking. Sobel will frequently describe a piece of clockwork, then say that Harrison didn't or couldn't use it in his marine timepieces, but without ever saying w...more
Eigentlich hatte ich hinter dem Titel einen historischen Roman um das geschichtlich verbürgte Problem der Längengradbestimmung erwartet, aber Dava Sobels Essay fasst die historischen Details dieser spannenden Geschichte sachlich präzise und dennoch überaus unterhaltsam in chronologischer Weise zusammen. Dabei ist es den heutigen Zeitgenossen gar nicht bewusst, dass die Bestimmung der genauen Position auf See ein immens wichtiges Problem war, dessen Lösung lange Zeit nahezu unmöglich schien.
Worum...more
Worum...more
Outstandingly well written. As a Yorkshireman myself, I felt a kinship with Harrison, a Yorkshire carpenter who did what the best watchmakers of his day could not do; craft a watch that would not significantly lose time when subjected to the rigors of an extended ocean voyage.
The trick to surviving a long ocean voyage, was to know your exact longitude. Latitude was straightforward, but without knowing time accurately, coupled with other observations, your estimate of longitude could be very much...more
The trick to surviving a long ocean voyage, was to know your exact longitude. Latitude was straightforward, but without knowing time accurately, coupled with other observations, your estimate of longitude could be very much...more
This is a neat little book. I suppose you could say there a structured story in here, but despite the subtitle, its not really an in depth story of John Harrison. Its more like a well written conversation about the longitude problem with someone one knows all sorts of interesting little factoids.
Ive read more than a handful of books on European history covering the period of this book's tale, inluding books about the enlightenment, the history of science, histories of inventions, art, thought, i...more
Ive read more than a handful of books on European history covering the period of this book's tale, inluding books about the enlightenment, the history of science, histories of inventions, art, thought, i...more
The most interesting part of this book is its history lesson: until the mid-1700s, the most difficult scientific problem in centuries of seafaring was the inability to measure longitude. Without knowing longitude, sailors had no reliable way of knowing where they were, resulting in lives, ships, and fortunes routinely lost at sea. So great was the need for a solution that the English parliament put up a bounty of £ 20,000 (multi-million dollars in today’s currency) for anyone who could solve the...more
This is a great book for the summer, as it is a short read and covers the historic effort to claim the £20,000 prize offered by the British Parliament for a simple and practical method of determining longitude on the sea. As Brittania expanded her maritime trade, privateering, and naval conflicts in the 18th century, Parliament established the Longitude Act of 1714, establishing a board to examine the problem and review submissions from innovative citizens. Too many ships were being lost due to...more
This brief and popular history of the search for a practical method of finding a ship’s longitude focuses on the life and work of a self-taught clockmaker from Yorkshire named John Harrison (24 March 1698-24 March 1776). Even well past the great age of maritime discovery, there was no credible way for a mariner to know his longitude; latitude was easily computed through celestial observa- tion, but longitude meant time: as the earth spins through its twenty-four hour day, position relative to so...more
“He wrestled the world’s whereabouts from the stars, and locked the secret in a pocket watch.” — Dava Sobel, Longitude
This book came as part of a set of nonfiction I’d bought, and to be honest, I doubt I would have heard of it (at least at the point at which I read it) otherwise. It chronicles the longitude problem and the inspiring tale of John Harrison. It’s completely engrossing. It’s simple enough to explain — back in C17, sailors had tremendous difficulty with navigation. They could easily...more
This book came as part of a set of nonfiction I’d bought, and to be honest, I doubt I would have heard of it (at least at the point at which I read it) otherwise. It chronicles the longitude problem and the inspiring tale of John Harrison. It’s completely engrossing. It’s simple enough to explain — back in C17, sailors had tremendous difficulty with navigation. They could easily...more
As the subtitle suggests, this is the story of the man, John Harrison, who came up with a workable method for finding longitude while at sea. He did this by means of a clock, while many other people favoured an astronomical solution, and there's some interesting description of the conflict between the two groups, which was probably increased by the fact that there was a huge monetary prize associated with finding a solution. I enjoyed reading about the eighteenth-century scientific community.
I w...more
I w...more
"Longitude" is an enjoyable, easy-to-read and understand overview of the events surrounding "the longitude problem," including the various solutions proposed, the political and scientific rivalry involved in the quest for the prize, and the scientific advances that occurred in pursuit of the solution.
The book doesn't really go into depth on how the clock was created. Apparently no one really knows how John Harrison solved each challenge in keeping perfect time while at sea. But we're told the so...more
The book doesn't really go into depth on how the clock was created. Apparently no one really knows how John Harrison solved each challenge in keeping perfect time while at sea. But we're told the so...more
This is a fascinating account of the quest for a way to calculate one's relative east-west location on the globe and John Harrison, the genius clockmaker who figured it out. As with so many scientific breakthroughs, an effective method wasn't developed overnight. For over a century, scientists worked from different premises using different methods before one method became widely used. As always, politics played a large role into who got the credit and/or financial reward for the inventions. Harr...more
John McCain says let's offer a $300M prize to the first person to develop an automobile battery that delivers comparable automotive power at 30% of current costs. Dumb idea? Well...hardly original or with a good track record. Read this account of John Harrison and the living nightmare he endured for decades in claiming the prize offered by parliament in the 18th century after he successfully developed the chronometer, a device that would allow ships at sea to determine longitude.
Die Suche nach einer zuverlässigen Berechnungsmethode für den Längengrad (der senkrechte Grad parallel zu Greenwich, das andere ist der Breitengrad), nahm seinerzeit Ausmaße an, vergleichbar mit der Suche nach dem Jungbrunnen, dem Perpetuum Mobile oder der Verwandlung von Blei zu Gold.
Viele Unglücke passierten auf Schiffsreisen, weil die Kapitäne nicht wussten, auf welchem Längengrad sie sich befanden, die Lösung dieses Problems würde viele Menschenleben und vor allem viele Ressourcen retten. Di...more
Viele Unglücke passierten auf Schiffsreisen, weil die Kapitäne nicht wussten, auf welchem Längengrad sie sich befanden, die Lösung dieses Problems würde viele Menschenleben und vor allem viele Ressourcen retten. Di...more
I saw a few books for free on Amazon by Dava Sobel, and they were highly rated, so I grabbed them. One was Longitude, which caught my eye as an interesting problem to solve. I had assumed that sailors had used sextants for hundreds or even thousands of years to calculate their positions at sea. Knowing how to get their latitude and longitude from the stars. However that’s not the case. It wasn’t until the late 1700s that they had a reliable way to do this.
This book goes through the various probl...more
This book goes through the various probl...more
If you think the battle between science and politics began in recent years, this book will change your mind. It is a little masterpiece, short in pages but with a wide wingspan.
Latitude is easy: the lines around the world (like the equator and the tropic of capricorn) are parallel. Longitude is tough: the lines converge at the poles, and as the planet turns, longitude connects maps with time.
Sobel makes a compelling story out of the world's efforts to solve the biggest maritime puzzle. Along t...more
Latitude is easy: the lines around the world (like the equator and the tropic of capricorn) are parallel. Longitude is tough: the lines converge at the poles, and as the planet turns, longitude connects maps with time.
Sobel makes a compelling story out of the world's efforts to solve the biggest maritime puzzle. Along t...more
Dec 07, 2009
Jennifer
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
students, people who like biographies
Take a look around. Everything that surrounds us -- except nature -- was created, invented by humans. The computer, calculator, oven, microwave, fork, knife, spoon, table, chair, everything solves a problem and eases (and sometimes complicates) our lives. Even the way that we understand the world had to be discovered and named by us like the periodic table of elements, the theory of relativity, latitude and longitude.
Latitude and longitude. Two very important imaginary sets of lines that encirc...more
Latitude and longitude. Two very important imaginary sets of lines that encirc...more
A terrific little book. I really enjoyed Dava Sobel's writing which is sparse, but evocative. I found myself rooting for the lowly clockmaker and horrified when he was robbed for so many years of his prize. Outside of the personal story, (which is engrossing) the information about the problem of longitude was fascinating. It really makes you think about all of the things that science and mathematics have given us, that we take for granted.
1 like · like · see review
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Want to know more? | 6 | 70 | Mar 15, 2013 01:03pm |
Dava Sobel is an accomplished writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. A 1964 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, Ms. Sobel attended Antioch College and the City College of New York before receiving her bachelor of arts degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1969. She holds honorary doctor of letters degrees from the University of Bath, in England, and M...more
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“He wrested the world's whereabouts from the stars, and locked the secret in a pocket watch.”
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3 people liked it
“Any clock that can track this sideral schedule proves itself as perfect as God's magnificent clockwork.
Dava Sobel”
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2 people liked it
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Dava Sobel”
Apr 12, 2010 09:18am