Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time

by Dava Sobel

book data

2,411 ratings, 3.80 average rating, 400 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		22%
4		42%
3		28%
2		5%
1		1%

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published

October 1st 2005 by Walker & Company (first published 1994)

details

Hardcover, 192 pages

literary awards

Royal Society Prize Nominee for General Prize (1997)

isbn

0802714625 (isbn13: 9780802714626)

description

During the great age of exploration, the "longitude problem" was the gravest of scientific challenges. Without the ability to determine long…more

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Aug 20, 2007

Peter added it (review of isbn 0140258795)

bookshelves: tutoring

Read in August, 2007

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: Lat...more

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Oct 29, 2008

David rated it:

Read in October, 2008

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

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Jun 03, 2007

Emily rated it:

(review of isbn 0007214227)

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in April, 2006

recommends it for: History-of-science and gadget geeks

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, o...more

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1 comment

Jan 05, 2009

William T. rated it:

Read in January, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 04, 2008

Elaine rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, december_08, sluh

Read in December, 2008

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.

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Jun 29, 2007

Stephanie rated it:

recommends it for: historians

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

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Dec 19, 2009

Noah Chriss rated it:

Read in December, 2009

Longitude, Dava Sobel ***- Wherever you go, you really need to know where you are.

From the renaissance onwards the preeminent engineering and scientific challenge in Europe was to try to create a technique whereby somebody at sea could determine longitude. The quest reached its apogee with a royal prize that inspired a couple hundred years of experimentation and technological development. There were copious cranks and a multitude of wrong turns as well.

Eventu...more

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Dec 12, 2009

Zoe rated it:

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.
...more

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Dec 01, 2009

Debbie rated it:

bookshelves: historical, non-fiction

Read in November, 2009

"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 whi...more

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Oct 03, 2009

Ken-ichi rated it:

(review of isbn 0802775934)

bookshelves: learning

Read in December, 2005

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 Captai...more

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2 comments

May 30, 2009

Trilby rated it:

(review of isbn 0739323784)

bookshelves: england, history, history-of-science, navigation

Read in May, 2009

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. H...more

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Aug 26, 2008

Phil Koehler rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in November, 2007

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.

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Dec 03, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

Read in December, 2009

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...more 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 encircle our globe and provide us with the wonders of GPS navigation. Latitude is marked by the stars, but longitude was once much more difficult to pinpoint. Dava Sobel’s fantastic biography, Longitude: The Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, reveals how John Harrison managed to discover how to determine longitude at sea without any training or significant formal education and in doing so saved millions of lives.

The story:
John Harrison was a modest man, a perfectionist to the core, whose mechanically inclined mind found his life’s greatest challenge in determining how to find longitude at sea with the use of a clock (an accurate clock! This was a time when most clocks lost 15 minutes or more a day) that had no pendulum. This problem was costing the empires of the world millions in lost cargos from sunk ships from the colonies, as well as many lives. In order to assuage this terrible and embarrassing loss, England’s Parliament set a reward. £20,000 to the one who could determine how to find longitude at sea within a half-degree, a nearly impossible task that quickly became a euphemism for the impossible.

A message from the story:
Accept praise when you earn it! If John Harrison had just allowed himself to accept the prize immediately, his political problems would have been avoided and he would not have needed to worry about others stealing his ideas. He could still have worked on improvements and perfected his chronometer, just without all the stress of having to vie against other options that arose during the time he took to tinker with and improve his machine through five stages.

What was wonderful:
This book was great fun to read. I enjoyed tracing the life of the brilliant man who at once solved the problem and then allowed his perfectionism to get in the way of claiming the prize for many years. The political intrigue, competition and life-and-death urgency of the issue was fascinating. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter delighted me and drew my curiosity deeper into the story. I especially loved the one from Lord Byron’s “Don Juan” that referenced John Harrison and his incredible ability to build clocks. Dava Sobel wrote in a highly accessible fashion that would draw in all readers who like history – including middle school and high school students.

To improve:
I would have liked to see quotes from primary sources that might have allowed us to see Harrison and his story more clearly. Since this is a biography, I would have liked to see more pictures. It would have been nice to include a full-page picture of all his creations that are currently at museums. I would like to have been able to examine the detail of his beautiful work.(less)

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Nov 12, 2007

Cheri rated it:

bookshelves: auto-biography

Read in December, 2007

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.

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3 comments

Oct 25, 2009

Abe Goolsby rated it:

(review of isbn 0140258795)

bookshelves: biography, science--mathematics

Read in June, 1997

A terrific biography of John Harrison, the eighteenth century horological genius who invented the chronometer (an accurate timepiece which allowed navigators to reliably fix their longitude anywhere in the world). Sailors had been determining their latitude (north-south position) by observing the heavens since ancient times, but longitude (east-west position) was always a different story (since the earth is in constant motion toward the east and there is no fixed reference point in the sky). Har...more

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Mar 01, 2010

Reenie rated it:

(review of isbn 080271529X)

bookshelves: female-author, non-fiction, science

Read in March, 2010

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

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Nov 08, 2009

Kerfe rated it:

Read in October, 2009

Why would anyone refuse to acknowledge the solution to a persistent and often deadly problem? Dava Sobel's recounting of the solving of the longitude question which had vexed sailors and mapmakers for centuries shows that politics and self-interest are nothing new in serving as obstacles to progress and reform.

Recounting the scientific issues in the context of the human ones, she creates an absorbing and revealing parallel to many issues that demand the world's attention now.
...more

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Nov 20, 2009

Kim rated it:

Read in October, 2009

I picked this book up at work and my boss thought I was desperate to read something. But, the story on the back of the book intrigued me and so I fell to reading it. I was fascinated by the story and the scientists. It is a wonderful story about the chronometer or timekeeper and how it came to be. John Harrison gave forty years of his life to make it a possibility of a clock to show time on a ship. He persevered when all around him were scientists and astronomers trying to find the longitu...more

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May 29, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

bookshelves: historical-works, science

Read in June, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 29, 2008

Cori rated it:

Read this several years prior to Galileo's Daughter, I find the author's use of historical facts combined with legendary rumour and tidbits intriguing. One of those "Who'd of thunk it?".

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