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

Dava Sobel is one of those authors who picks a good topic, but then stumbles in the execution. This book had a tremendous influence on me when I read it something like twenty years ago. I was so in awe of John Harrison.

Now I see the flaws in Sobel's writing, the sentimentality, the occasional malapropism. The illustrated version of the book is so much more worth reading than its plain counterpart; the many photographs of the various clocks are astonishing. I guess I am still in awe, really.

This book has hung about forever on my tbr shelf, mainly because despite knowing it was heavily illustrated and thus a quick read, I find Dava Sobel's writing to be dull. I could not read [Galileo's Daughter] despite trying over and over again, wanting it to work. Anyway - I read this in that way I do when I just want to get the basic gist of a thing. The fight for determining longitude was between the lunar method and the time method. The first depended on meticulous star charts and lunar observations. The second on a watch that would not lose time! A Board of Longitude was set up in the late 18th when it became apparent that conquering the world and getting all the loot would go to whoever figured this out first. Big prize offered and show more they were off! The drama focussed, in the end, between personalities as well as methods. The Royal Astronomer had the most power to determine who would get the prize and although it became apparent to the more sensible types the John Harrison's chronometer strategy was easier and more reliable, the RA's tended to be more prejudiced toward the lunar methods. It's an interesting story, in fact, and so revealing of what blind self-servings idiots some people can be. Nothing new there! The writing was bearable, the illustrations fabulous! ***1/2 show less

Who knew that a story about the invention to measure longitude would be so exciting. This is the first book that I have read my Ms. Sobel and it will not be the last. She made something that could have been overly academic accessible and interesting. I had never heard of the longitude prize and I loved all the drama and backstabbing that was involved.

The only negative was not about the story and the writing, but the edition I read. I read the illustrated version, and it was giant and difficult to hold while reading, some of the pictures also ruined the flow of the story in some places. If you are trying to decide which version to get, go with one of the smaller ones.

Sobel, Dava and Andrewes, William J. H.. The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. Walker and Company, New York, 1998. Fabulous book about John Harrison, who built the first seaworthy watch. Keeping accurate time at sea is crucial for determining the longitude of a ship---and knowing the longitude can be a matter of life or death. Ms. Sobel does a great job of making this story fascinating and presents the human side of the scientific story---for example, the adversity Mr. Harrison faced from the community of astronomers who were convinced that the best way to determine longitude at sea was to carefully measure the angular distance between the moon and another show more celestial body and consult a series of tables in a four-hour process. A great read, and the illustrations & photographs are well worth the extra cost (this book was first published as a conventional, text-only paperback). show less

I wish I'd read this instead of the little book that was almost entirely text. The story, and the science, and the engineering, all make more sense now that I've paged through this one. I still can't recommend it though unless you're already geeky about historical navigation and clockmaking, though.

An excellent, widely-read history of the development of a method (basically a good watch) for measuring longitude -- a development which enabled sea-going exploration and contributed hugely to the way we in the European tradition appreciate the world. The illustrations add a lot to the narrative in this new-ish edition.