Longitude

Subtitle:: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Author:: Dava Sobel
Format:: Softcover

Now:	R141.95
eBucks:	eB1420

United States of America

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Seller:: kalahari.com

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Short description

Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land. "Longitude" is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world.

Long description

Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem” was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day—and had been for centuries.  Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land.  Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution.  One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution—a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land.  Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer.  Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world.
 

Product details

Publisher:: Walker & Company
ISBN:: 9780802715296
Publication date:: November 2007
Length:: 187mm
Width:: 118mm
Thickness:: 15mm
Weight:: 204g
Pages:: 184
Illustrations:: Illustrated
Readership:: Age: 15 - 18
Illustrated:: Illustrated

Review

Praise for Longitude :

This is a gem of a book. --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times

A simple tale, brilliantly told. -- Washington Post Book World

As much a tale of intrigue as it is of science...A book full of gems for anyone interested in history, geography, astronomy, navigation, clockmaking, and--not the least--plain old human ambition and greed. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

Only someone with Dava Sobel's unusual background in both astronomy and psychology could have written it. Longitude is a wonderful story, wonderfully told. --Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses

The marine chronometer is a glorious and fascinating object, but it is not a simple one, and its explanation calls for a writer as skilled with words as the watchmakers were with their tools; happily such a writer has been found in Dava Sobel. --Patrick O'Brian, author of The Commodore and the Aubrey/Maturin series