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, even though his Chronometers repeatedly proved their worth in Sea trial after sea trial, and the watch quickly gained adherents among sea captains, Harrison was thwarted at every turn in his attempt to claim the prize. Jealous rivals on the board used their influence to change the rules of the contest multiple times. His relations with the board became so acrimonious that eventually his friends went over the board's head and appealed directly to the King himself. George III asked that a special act of Parliament be passed and Harrison finally received his prize.

Despite it's brevity, Longitude is an incredibly engaging and educational book. Sobel writes in a way that makes the science and math accessible to the general reader.

If you're interested in this subject I'd also recommend the 2000 A&E movie, which was based on this book.

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 value placed on finding a solution), but while the author keeps on reminding us that it's very important, and telling us that his struggles with the politics of the board who were supposed to award the reward were very severe, I generally felt underwhelmed by the story, or maybe the way it was being told and structured.

After starting off very dramatically, (at one point even blaming the problems of scurvy on the inability to find longitude), the early part of the story of John Harrison (the clock-maker) seemed pretty bland and lacking in tension. When tension did arrive later on (basically after he'd already solved the problem), everything got kind of rushed through - it is a very short book, and it might have been better with a little more time devoted to rounding out some of the ideas, so that diversions into a brief recap of Captain Cook's death, or the voyage of the Beagle actually felt like they belonged, rather than being shoehorned in for some broader appeal. All in all, I ended up feeling like Sobel had manufactured a bunch of tension and drama, but not actually delivered on filling in the colour and texture of it all.

It's not a bad book, but it itches for a rewrite for hacking and resorting and building into a better flow.

Thank you to my daughter who bought this for me at her school’s book sale.

Dava Sobel has written a very accessible account of a genius who prevailed against the odds. It's concise, absorbing and packed full of fascinating details and interesting characters. A perfect history book for the general reader, and as enjoyable as any novel.

The subtitle says it all, Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. That lone genius was John Harrison (1693-1776) a self taught clock maker. Over 40 years, he invented and produced four increasingly precise and compact chronometers capable of accurately measuring time over a long, rough sea voyage. By comparing the chronometer's time to local sun time, a navigator could precisely measure longitude. Prior to his invention there was no accurate way of measuring longitude and many lives were lost due to catastrophic miscalculations.

In 1714 the British Parliament offered a reward to whoever could solve the longitude problem with a prize of £20,000 for the winner. At that time astronomy was seen as the best route to a solution despite being time consuming and difficult.

You might think that Harrison's incredible devices would be unanimously welcomed. Alas, no. He was forever battling vested interests until eventually, and after decades, King George III intervened.

John Harrison's marine timekeepers are on display at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London and are well worth seeing...

https://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observato...

4/5

Nowadays we can lose track of how scary and dangerous it can be to be lost.

We have GPS and apps to make location easy and our great and wild planet has been tagged, labeled and thoroughly domesticated.

But there was a time really not very long ago where if you were out at sea, you did not have a very exact idea where you were. Being lost at sea could mean running aground or becoming so off your planned trajectory that food stores could run out and your crew could face a slow death from starvation and dehydration.

There was navigation but it was limited in accuracy east or west, the north and south latitudes being more or less identifiable. Throughout the 1700s we follow the quest to solve this important problem for shipping, mapping, and safe and efficient navigation.

Writer Dava Sobel populates this short history with a cast of scientists, astronomers, engineers, mathematicians and - a carpenter. People who know such things figured out that clockmaking, building a durable and efficient chronometer would solve the longitude puzzle that had been plaguing mariners since time immemorial. We spend the next hundred odd years with behind the scenes story about how we went a long way towards not being lost.

This book is just about perfection. Why and who decided to venture out and sail the "flat" world and risk dropping off the edge? How did charts and early navigational equipment come to be? There is latitude but what is longitude and who are the pioneers of this science? Answers all contained but in an easy to read and understand book. Well recommended.

I remember visiting Royal Museums Greenwich in London with my children several years ago. 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. Now I wish I have had a closer look at H4, the actual prize-winning marine timekeeper made by the lone genius John Harrison.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time is a well-written popular science book of how the longitude problem was solved, clear and concise, suitable for kids too.

Ms. Sobel made a somewhat obscure topic interesting and informative. Definitely worth the read.

A popular account rather than super in-depth scientific writing, but it's so bingeable and readable (along the lines of Mary Roach’s nonfiction writing). I didn’t know anything whatsoever about this topic beforehand -- like, I knew that sextants are navigation tools used on ships but what are they?? -- and yet I wound up totally riveted to this story of obsessive perfectionist John Harrison in the 1700s and his attempts to invent a chronometer (a marine timekeeping device), and his battles with astronomers royal (!), including the ~villainous~ Nevil Maskelyne. Some of the conflict is likely exaggerated a bit to make the tale more dramatic, more cinematic, but I was still utterly drawn in, particularly in how this strange chapter in history touches on human ingenuity, invention, seafaring, the stars, scientific pursuits, and competition between countries.

It made me interested all over again in watchmaking, too, and I still want to take a beginner's watchmaking class from the Horological Society of New York -- I was planning on doing it before, yanno, pandemic.

My main complaint is that this book could have been a bit longer; I'd have gladly read more on this subject, particularly since Sobel's writing was so enjoyable. Some photographs and diagrams would have helped, too, particularly when she was closely describing a painted portrait of Harrison, or the chronometers themselves (the most important thing!!). Especially because the chronometers are SO COOL. See this review or this Atlas Obscura page for some photos.

Cool stuff, and fun book club discussion too. I just love the sea, y'all. Devoured this whole book in about two sittings.

This is the story of how a self-taught watch maker figured out how to make the first extremely accurate clock to allow sailors a reliable way to find longitude, particularly at night when it was cloudy. It's also the story of how others, mainly certain astronomers, didn't want to believe it could be anything other than a method using the sky and how some of them made it ridiculously difficult to win the money for solving this puzzle the most accurately.

There isn't much to know about John Harrison's life, but there is some, and then the author digs into some of the other people who either supported or fought against his ideas and work. This is written for the average person who knows nothing about either astronomy or clock and watch making at the time.

I am NOT going to tell you what they are, but there are two brilliant things that John Harrison was the first to figure out that are still used in devices, and at least one is something you have probably used, today.

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.

Even with no penchant for science, I found this fascinating, esp. after visiting Greenwich, England, the museum and the very spot to which world time is related (as in Greenwich Mean Time). The author explains all the challenges involved and has written a suspenseful, interesting book about a subject I took for granted.

Really fun! Also, really short! I listened to a quarter of it or so on audio while running errands and walking around the hospital in a bit of a daze as my latest little boy was born, so I know I missed some details in the beginning. Still really great though! Sobel does a really good job of bringing her material to life and communicating information in a delightful way, and hearing Neil Armstrong's Intro was pretty cool, too.