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Longitude
 
 
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Longitude [Kindle Edition]

Dava Sobel (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
Print List Price: £7.99
Kindle Price: £5.29 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: £2.70 (34%)
* Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.

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Product Description

Amazon Review

The thorniest scientific problem of the eighteenth century was how to determine longitude. Many thousands of lives had been lost at sea over the centuries due to the inability to determine an east-west position. This is the engrossing story of the clockmaker, John "Longitude" Harrison, who solved the problem that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer, yet claimed only half the promised rich reward.

Review

Dava Sobel has written a gem of a book…one of the best reads for the non-scientific writing to come along for many a moon." Financial Times

"A true life thriller, jam-packed with political intrigue, international warfare, personal feuds and financial skullduggery." Daily Mail

"Rarely have I enjoyed a book as much as Dava Sobel's Longitude. She has an extraordinary gift of making difficult ideas clear." Daily Telegraph

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 51 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Anniversary edition of a surprise best seller 10 Oct 2005
By Budge Burgess
Format:Paperback
Dava Sobel's description of the search for an accurate means to measure longitude was a surprise best seller when first published. This latest, celebratory edition is prefaced by an introduction by Neil Armstrong. Does it add to the package?

Sobel took what was once an intractable problem - finding a means to work out precisely where you are - and turned it into a very readable account, making the history and science readily accessible to a popular readership. Working out latitude is not particularly difficult - the equator is a fixed point and observation of sun, stars, and length of day make it relatively easy to determine how far north or south you are.

But longitude? Because the earth spins (more or less) on a north/south axis, the two poles act as fixed points in space. There are no such fixed points on the equator - every point on the equator undergoes a complete revolution every twenty four hours. Longitude has always been problematic, and for the seafarer, that problem could easily prove fatal.

The solution came in the creation of clocks which would keep good enough time at sea, and the man responsible for their invention, Harrison, emerges from Sobel's book as a determined, driven man.

It's a fascinating little book, written in a highly accessible style. It's quite a quick read. It's a highly enjoyable read. It's also a stimulating read, and must have encouraged a few people to delve further into history and science.

But does it deserve a new edition? Well, the cachet of Armstrong's introduction is a reminder that long distance sea travel was once as dangerous as current space travel. It's unnecessary. Sobel's story is exciting enough, and will absorb you with or without an introduction.... Read more ›

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Make time to read this 15 Mar 1999
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
While Longitude is, on the surface of it, a book about scientific endeavour, its appeal is due to the story of a man's struggle against the prevailing thought of the time and the board set up to judge the award for the discovery of a method of determining longitude which was full of people with vested interests. The determination and drive of Harrison is awesome; if it was a novel you would find it difficult to believe. This is arguably the one book that has driven the much quoted trend towards science based books. While the media asks if this signals renewed interest in things scientific, the real answer is more likely that stories such as this are successful because they are about real people with real obstacles to overcome. Well worth a read; it won't take you long!
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars What a great little book! 8 Nov 2003
By Alan P
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Just to prove that the most wonderful stories can be produced from true life, this science book for the layman tells the irresistable tale of John Harrison, winner of the English Parliament's prize for the determination of longitude in 1770.

This is a tiny book in the paperback version, and makes for a rapid but extremely satisfying read. Political intrigue, fascinating science and excellent incidental anecdotes abound. (My favourite occurs right at the beginning - the tale of a haughty admiral who has an uppity sailor hanged for daring to question his navigation, and who receives his comeuppance in the most deliciously ironic way.... and it's all true!)

Most of all, it brings into focus the concept of a "life's work" - John Harrison's dogged faithfulness to producing the world's most accurate chronograph in a practical, portable package. The sheer thought of spending 19 years perfecting just one variation of it is inconceivable; that he spent over 40 years refining his concept to the eventual prizewinning piece just boggles the mind.

This is a delightful read.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Needs More Diagrams 12 Jan 1999
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed Longitude, but it would be better with even a few diagrams to explain some of the details of Harrison's clock making breakthroughs. I couldn't form a picture just from reading the text how his gridiron pendulum allowed for temperature changes, but I'm sure it could have been explained quite easily with a diagram and a reference to basic physics. The recent Horizon programme on the BBC made exactly the same mistake. Without more explanantion we are really being asked to take the author's word for it about how clever Harrison's clocks were. It's a good story though. One thing I'm still not sure about is how do you measure local noon on board ship any more accurately than you measure the moon's position. With a few more explanations this book could have been excellent.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating but ultimately too one dimensional 9 Jan 2000
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I share others reviewers' need for more detail about some of the technical points covered by Dava Sobel. The book is really too short but it was based on an article for the Harvard Review so that is understandable. It is a good overview but I would have liked both more personal detail of Harrison's family, and the personal effect on them of his titanic struggle, and more information about the context of his technical advances. The book is readable but ultimately frustrating; not detailed enough; and short on the personalities and characters of the protagonists, the various Astronomers Royal, naval officers and Harrison's horological contemporaries.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars there's a lot the average person does not realise.... 12 Mar 2003
By lmck
Format:Paperback
...about how the modern world came to be and how men were persecuted for trying to advance our understanding. Dava Sobel has educated me not just about history (I am essentially ignorant) but also about human nature - how easily we refuse to move forward. I suggest if you read this and feel the same, try reading "Galileo's Daughter" and "To Father".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Nonsensical Review.
The pictures in this edition were unclear on my iPad. Had the dates been shown in the text this would have aided my understanding ( Example from my own life. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Laura
5.0 out of 5 stars An Epic Tale.
"Longitude" is an epic tale in many ways.
While the desperate search to find a means of reliable navigation is central to this story, Harrison's perseverance is equally... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Owen Zupp
5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed but manageable
A good read. Lightly and engagingly written with good research and detail. If the test a a book is to encourage further reading on the same subject, then this one suceeds.
Published 2 months ago by Max
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
The very intiguing story of the setting of the longitude line. See the accompanying TV programme to enhance the information.
Published 2 months ago by Tony Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars Longitude: The True Story
Great book and an excellent read, true story, good with the DVD which has been on telly. Hope to see the watch one day.
Published 3 months ago by Mr. D. W. Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well presented
Very well presented account of a wonderful achievement in history by a master carpenter.
I would definitly recommend this book.
Published 3 months ago by Steven Simmonds
5.0 out of 5 stars Totally fascinating
So many women have written so many great books on history (Fraser's The Gunpowder Plot, Scurr's Robespierre, Eisler's Byron, Collingridge's Cook, Salmond's Bligh, Alexander's... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Boyd Hone
4.0 out of 5 stars A story of human invention, told with passion.
This book may be only 175 pages - yet I found it to be an informative, inspiring and a fun read. For me, it told an amazing story of human invention and human dedication to... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Adam
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific look into the making of a great invention
Dava Sobel's account of John Harrison's life long struggle to make the perfect sea worthy clock is riveting. I actually read Longitude years ago. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Shelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Great little book
This is a great little book, reads like a novel but it's full of scientific and historical facts, and it really encourages you to learn more about the whole story. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Bepster
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Popular Highlights

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&quote;
navigator resets his ship’s clock to local noon when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, and then consults the home-port clock, every hour’s discrepancy between them translates into another fifteen degrees of longitude. &quote;
Highlighted by 6 Kindle users
&quote;
To learn one’s longitude at sea, one needs to know what time it is aboard ship and also the time at the home port or another place of known longitude—at that very same moment. The two clock times enable the navigator to convert the hour difference into a geographical separation. Since the Earth takes twenty-four hours to complete one full revolution of three hundred sixty degrees, one hour marks one twenty-fourth of a spin, or fifteen degrees. &quote;
Highlighted by 5 Kindle users
&quote;
on October 22, 1707, at the Scilly Isles four homebound British warships ran aground and nearly two thousand men lost their lives. &quote;
Highlighted by 4 Kindle users

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