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

This book read quickly and was super interesting! I loved learning about the solution to the ages-old problem of figuring longitude while at sea. The technical detail of the problem was written in an easy-to-understand way, and the people in the history are so well-developed that I became emotionally involved with them--empathetic towards 1, frustrated by another, disliked yet another. From a teaching standpoint, this would be a great starting point for a junior high or high school project-based unit.

An excellent account of how a navigator's exact longitude was finalized.It is a most worthwhile read for anyone who is interested in where they are in the world, and how that was exactly achieved .

Any student of geography, navigation, astronomy, sailing or flying will find this book amazing in its detail. The continuing perseverance of Harrison's approach as to how measure Longitude exactly, is to be admired.

My opinion is that this subject of Longitude would be a useful addition to any High School's curriculum, as it would give any pupil / student a valuable insight as to how this part of geographical measurement was settled, and how one man's determination proved that this was achievable,

Geof James, Queensland, Australia

Dr. Sobel's book caught my attention years ago, but I had lent my copy of _Longitude_ to a friend and it never returned. Whether paid forward or simply purloined, my loss tells me another found the book as excellent as I did.So I bought a copy from the store and enjoyed it again. My own writing is much more fiction than non-fiction, but as an author, I recognize how difficult it is to write prose that is both correct and intriguing. Sobel has a gift honed by practice. She exemplifies all three of Sir Francis Bacon's prescriptions: reading has made her full of ideas, conference has made her ready, and writing has made her exact.

I have read this book now twice. The ingenuity of Harrison and the scientific pursuit of the English is simply fascinating. However the corruption of big science which is universal seems to have its foundation in London

Such a satisfying book to read. Dava Sobel captures the essence of rare genius and motivation that comes from within, regardless of extrinsic factors. John Harrison persevered despite those who sought to derail him, and to me represents the truest form of greatness. It's an inspiring story of grit and passion, and a reminder that best ideas seldom come from the places they're 'supposed' to.

A great read for anyone interested in the history of timekeeping and how it became essential for navigation. I don't finish a lot of books because they lose my attention, but this one held my attention to the point I read the whole thing on an overseas flight.

The highest recommendation I can give is that I recommend this book to others, which I do. We take watches and time-pieces for granted these days, but not long ago an accurate time piece was so difficult and valuable, having such technology could help a Navy rule the world. A very interesting book, especially for those of us interested in mechanical time pieces such as the Seiko, Casio, and Orient mechanical diver's watches.

As a former USAF weapon systems officer and rated navigator, civilian pilot and sailor, the concept of time isn't only fascinating, but important to me. As Ms Sobel points out in her outstanding presentation, marine navigation was much more hazardous until an accurate method of determining Longitude could be achieved. John Harrison's efforts in creating his timepieces not only gave navigators a valuable tool, his insistence in creating a highly-accurate "watch" is a testament to his spirit, which we can now carry on our person.

I thought it was excellent in its presentation of the facts associate and solution to the problem. Having been trained to use the sextant and sun and lunar tables, I was very familiar of the problems in getting a good fix to determine your location. The time and the chronological solution was the best way to confirm your location at sea. The book showed the problems and to get the British organization to accept an alternative to the accepted and main line acceptable approach. This is a good historical summary of why we had a problem, and did not get a solution for 40 years.....may over-government control and its inhibition to get successful solution into the mainstream, as a problem. I love the clock and its complex working mechanisms, and how It has worked for hundreds of years of functional work for all.

Unforgettable and so very interesting. There's a movie to read by the same name after you finish the book ( books are always better but the movie was great too.)
Hasn't gotten the popularity it deserves.

As an engineer I appreciated the technical issue. However, the best part of the book was why there were so many shipwrecks that changed the course of nations, and why longitude was such a critical concern for so long. Longitude is something we take for granted today. Well written. One misconception by many of the other reviewers. Harrison was not a scientist, he was an engineer. Scientists observe nature to determine physical laws. Engineers apply that knowledge to provide practical solutions.

A simple explanation of the problem of ocean navigation in the 16th and 17th centuries and how it was solved not by astronomy but by accurate time keeping on board a rolling ship over "long" time periods.

Dava Sobel does a great job explaining a subject that many of us may not have thought much about. With GPS, we don't often find ourselves trying to calculate our location manually. But Sobel effectively takes us back to a time when figuring longitude made a big difference to shipping and exploration, and clearly explains both the problem posed to navigation and how it was solved.

This is a very readable and informative book about the quest to develop a dependable method of determining longitude at sea. Stretching from the time of Galileo into the 19th century, the book tracks efforts by some of history's greatest scientists to solve the problem. Most sought astronomical solutions. The hero of this story, however, was a clockmaker who developed four iterations of a chronometer for use under the wide range of conditions encountered on ships.

In the process, the author introduces the reader to historical figures ranging from Galileo, Newton and Halley to King George III and a host of other major and minor players who wrestled with the problem. Very interesting and very well written.

Unfortunately, the author fails seriously in one area. While writing on about quadrants, sextants, chronometers and other tools of the navigational trade, she never gives an acceptable explanation of how any of them actually work. Apparently she thinks we already know. Either that, or she doesn't fully understand the process herself. I certainly didn't, and having read this book, I still don't. (This could have been easily remedied either in the body of the book or in an appendix if her concern was getting too technical for readers.) As a result, the book is less about "longitude" and more about the history of astronomy and clockmaking in navigation.

This serious shortcoming kept me from rating the book a 5. Otherwise.....excellent!!!

This story of the subtle operation of class privilege, social discrimination, and bureaucratic stinginess in Britain in the early 19th C is a compelling read. William Harrison's brilliant engineering skills, and his persistence against the social barriers of his time enabled him to succeed in designing the first clock that could withstand the severe jostling and humidity changes of the high seas. This achievement made the accurate determination of longitude possible.

A fascinating story of a genius who was admired by those who had use of his timepiece, but seemingly ignored by all clockmakers today, chiefly because our technology has superseded his by way of electronic clocks and atomic clocks.

I have long loved this writing in the paperback form. I finally got the illustrated version and am extremely pleased that I did. Dava Sobel's writing is superb. I also recommend Galileo's Daughter.

Interesting book to explain the conflict between the different factions and how the influence of the king was required to get parliament to honor their own laws. I wished I had read it before I went to Greenwich recently as I did not know there was a maritime museum there with the clocks to see. I also would not have realized the significance of them before. I recommend it for all navigators. I am in New Zealand but if I ever get back to Greenwich I will go and see those clocks which changed the world.

Beautifully written account of a part of very important history -- scientific as well as the non-scientific parts of this story -- which I was not quite aware of (even though I am a professional scientist!). The writing style is something liked much -- it has all the relevant facts, is accurate, yet not drab and boring to read like many other scientific-history narratives tend to become.

A sheer ply fascinating book about how time was charted a concept I had never thought about. It is very well written as a non-scientist I have learned a very significant fact of somethings that dominates all of our lives. I found it like explains the I-Phone

This book does the extraordinary: tells the unusual story of an everyday concept and makes that history both moving and personally relevant. The best and worst of humanity and human endeavor come together with gentle story telling style. More than a simple historical account, this is a great read.

John Harrison was cheated out of his prize money for solving the problem of keeping time at sea for decades, while hundreds of ships wrecked and thousands of men perished because of the simple fact that they could not determine how far east or west they were (owing to not having an accurate timepiece at sea). Finally, the marine chronometer was accepted as the basis for accurate 'dead reckoning' and obtaining a celestial navigation "fix"; however, in the Harrison died a bitter and cheated man. This is the third time I have read this book. It is a wonderful tale of how politics defeat the good in the 'common man'.

Very interesting description of the effort as well as some of the controversy and difficulties that went into developing methods of determining an accurate longitude. Many now haven't even experienced life without a GPS or some other electronic navigational aid to get around. This book helped give me a better understanding of the difficulties involved with navigation at sea before accurate timekeeping was available.

After reading this, I have a new respect for carpenters, geniuses, clock-makers, mariners and authors. The book relates to so very many other pieces of information and people as far-flung as Darwin (who sailed through the Beagle Channel in South America going to the Easter Islands), King James II (who gave my ancestor, who was Queen Charlotte's personal minister and Astronomer from Germany) a chain-driven watch in the 1770's and Capt. Cooke who plied his trade and died in Hawai'i.

Very interesting description of the effort as well as some of the controversy and difficulties that went into developing methods of determining an accurate longitude. Many now haven't even experienced life without a GPS or some other electronic navigational aid to get around. This book helped give me a better understanding of the difficulties involved with navigation at sea before accurate timekeeping was available.

After reading this, I have a new respect for carpenters, geniuses, clock-makers, mariners and authors. The book relates to so very many other pieces of information and people as far-flung as Darwin (who sailed through the Beagle Channel in South America going to the Easter Islands), King James II (who gave my ancestor, who was Queen Charlotte's personal minister and Astronomer from Germany) a chain-driven watch in the 1770's and Capt. Cooke who plied his trade and died in Hawai'i.

The trouble and conflict involved in the battle to solve the problem of longitude was a bitter battle between a host of egos that all wanted to be the savior of this seriously problem. Dava Sobel gives a great look into this and I would recommend it to everyone who likes to understand history better.

This is an, easy to read, interesting book about the fellows who discovered the methods to determine the longitude of a ship's location at sea, a VERY SERIOUS problem when men tried to sail the earth. It is a fascinating story about those who came before us and had inquisitive minds which resulted in discovering techniques that are still in use today, believe it or not.

Nice story that reveals how it is hard, sometimes, to convince other people that a problem has not been solved so far because it has not been looked in the most simple way. Since some tools were described, I would have appreciated some diagrams, schematics of the clocks that were realized, and of the scientific challenges that other great scientists were having. It is a novel, but in this case I think some images could have helped a lot.

This is a very fascinating book and should appeal to anyone with an interest in navigation, clocks, science and naval history. I have a much more personal interest in this because I was, for many years, an ocean sailor and logged about 30,000 miles across long distances in small boats. A great number of these miles were logged before GPS became available and i relied on a sextant and chronometer. This would not have been possible without the efforts of John Harrison and his invention of the chronometer that Sobel relates so well.

Dava Sobel's "Longitude" offers an easy to read and sometimes poetic narrative introduction to a fascinating period in human history. Sobel's essay on the pursuit of a solution to the seafarer's need to determine their precise location on the surface of a featureless sea recalls one of mankind's golden eras of discovery. Sure to whet the appetite of readers to explore the era of sea-faring adventurers.

Terrific book--about an important story in the history of technology or science. How to navigate on the open oceans before satellites--the bulk of time that mariners have sailed the earth's seas.

Description of the copy I purchased was "right on"--book in great shape, as promised; and delivery quite quick as well. Thank you.

Longitude tells a fascinating, little-recalled history of the invention of navigational methods necessary to sail the globe accurately. Inventor John Harrison solves the dilemma of adjusting for the difference between longitudinal distances at the equator, and north or south to the poles. Ancillary details include how scurvey was conquered, economic imact of wayward sailing voyages, and social aspects of world-wide trade on the high seas. The illustrated version is a pleasure to the eye.

It's a very interesting small book about a subject I previously knew absolutely nothing about. In the old days, they had pretty much figured our latitude, but not longitude, which continually killed entire sailing crews on wooden ships when they got off course. The Brits established a contest with a cash prize to figure it out, and main character of the story did so … by building a series of clocks that got more accurate with each version. It was how the Greenwich Time standard was established, and the commanders eventually could figure out exactly where they were. That's a simplified version of the story, but I guarantee if you have one ounce of interest in history, you'll find it a fascinating story.

A thoroughly researched topic. Very interesting, yet took me a while to slog through it--not the author's fault! I knew the story about the clock, not all the details behind it. I thought it a bit boring, but that is my opinion only. Don't not read because of my review.

The book was recommended by a brilliant friend. Amazing account of a journey of inventiveness and sagacity. The obstacles that were overcome had as much to do with bureaucracy as mechanical solutions. Read it. Share it.

This is a well done chronology of an amazing time in the history of exploration and scientific advancement. Included in the story are the underlying obstacles of human imperfection.
A very interesting story for anyone interested in science, especially mechanics or astronomy.
Rated five because of its high quality.

Gives a very good insight into the development of the chronometer, in a very readable and engrossing manner. At times, you almost feel like you have been transformed back into the 18 th century.
At times, we take things for granted, not realising that just 200 years ago, mankind was still struggling with definition of longitude - the importance of the same has been brought out in very interesting manner by the author.
Loved the read.

Sobel relates the drama of the human endeavor to define longitude with flair, humor, and compassion. She shows that what we now so readily take for granted--knowing where we are and what time it is--are in fact among humanity's major achievements.

A must read for any geographer,nay, anyone who is even remotely interested in absolute locations on our planet. The book's summary and structure are well laid out in chapter two. The book is so well written that the reader feels like (s)he is witness to unfolding events.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and plan to purchase a few copies to give as gifts.

If you wonder about the great challenge of early seafarers, their attempts at mapping the world's land masses and calculating the incredible distances between the continents, then this book it's for you!

"The Illustrated Longitude" is an fast moving historical account of John Harrison's career as an instrument maker and the legitimate finder of a practical solution to the problem of determining Longitude at Sea.

If you are at all interested in the history of timekeeping, this book is a must. The print quality is high and the illustrations serve the story well. The book does not contain detailed plans of Mr Harrison's chronometers or description of the techniques of celestial navigation, but rather is a brisk, engaging account of the origin of the Longitude problem, Mr Harrison's solution and those of his rivals, and the political intrigues which delayed full acknowledgement of the merit of his devices.

I bought this book some months after visiting the Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. Seeing the Harrison chronometers (all keeping time) there offers a view of an era of discovery, and the inspired work behind them. "The Illustrated Longitude" conveys the significance of the Longitude problem in that era and the challenges overcome by a very clever and self made man.

Tasked with making a presentation on the history of time keeping and being a former US Naval officer with training in celestial navigation, this fascinating book was valuable in tying these two subjects together. As Ms. Sobel succinctly quotes in her book, "Longitude is time." John Harrison's development of a precise and stable chronometer made ocean navigation feasible.

... but still one of my favorite single-subject historical documentary books. Clear, well-written, interesting.
Four stars because maybe a little more seafaring detail would have been even more interesting, in the manner of the Forrester novels.

I very much enjoyed this book. It was an interesting change of pace from my other reading. The book is not long, but it is fascinating. It is not a "casual" read--you have to concentrate (okay, *I* had to concentrate) on the concepts involved. Great, untold (until now) tale. Go read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions!