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Book Review - Longitude by Dava Sobel
Published by Fourth Estate London,1996 "The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time." Longitude immediately grabs one's interest, As a lighthouse guides a weary sailor to a safe arrival, this true story illuminates the problems and struggles to accurately calculate Longitude. It details the forty years of devotion by a simple carpenter, John Harrison, to build his perfect Chronometer, and his battle to claim the offered prize of twenty thousand pounds for solving the Longitude problem. Harrison had to overcome the bias of both astrologists and navigators of the 1700's. Anyone who has sailed the world's oceans, and pondered on the relationship between time, distance and a safe landfall or, who in their youth wound up a chronometer at sea, will enjoy this jewel of a book. Not to be missed. See Longitude and The Illustrated Longitude on Amazon.com. |
