Longitude: The True Story Of A Lone Genius Who Solved The Greatest Scientific Problem Of His Time
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
In an age when the world's greatest navigators sailed blind across treacherous open seas, one fundamental question threatened to swallow empires whole: how does a ship know exactly where it is? Longitude chronicles the remarkable true story of John Harrison, an obscure, self-educated English clockmaker who dared to challenge the scientific establishment of the 18th century and, against all odds, solved the greatest scientific problem of his time — the precise measurement of longitude at sea. Dava Sobel masterfully reconstructs Harrison's decades-long obsession, his revolutionary marine timekeepers, and his bitter struggle for the prize money offered by the British Parliament's 1714 Longitude Act, weaving together the stories of royal astronomers, jealous rivals, and brilliant mechanical ingenuity into a narrative of breathtaking tension. Beyond its gripping human drama, Longitude stands as a landmark work of popular science writing, illuminating how a single individual's perseverance can redirect the course of history. Sobel's prose is crisp, elegant, and deceptively simple — she transforms dense horological and navigational science into a story as compelling as any thriller, without sacrificing intellectual rigour. The book raises profound questions about the nature of genius, institutional power, and the stubborn human refusal to accept the impossible — questions that resonate far beyond the 18th-century world it so vividly conjures. For anyone who has ever stared at the horizon and wondered what lies beyond, this is a story that will not let go.
Author: Dava Sobel
Format: Paperback
Published: 1995, Walker & Company
Genre: History
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
In an age when the world's greatest navigators sailed blind across treacherous open seas, one fundamental question threatened to swallow empires whole: how does a ship know exactly where it is? Longitude chronicles the remarkable true story of John Harrison, an obscure, self-educated English clockmaker who dared to challenge the scientific establishment of the 18th century and, against all odds, solved the greatest scientific problem of his time — the precise measurement of longitude at sea. Dava Sobel masterfully reconstructs Harrison's decades-long obsession, his revolutionary marine timekeepers, and his bitter struggle for the prize money offered by the British Parliament's 1714 Longitude Act, weaving together the stories of royal astronomers, jealous rivals, and brilliant mechanical ingenuity into a narrative of breathtaking tension. Beyond its gripping human drama, Longitude stands as a landmark work of popular science writing, illuminating how a single individual's perseverance can redirect the course of history. Sobel's prose is crisp, elegant, and deceptively simple — she transforms dense horological and navigational science into a story as compelling as any thriller, without sacrificing intellectual rigour. The book raises profound questions about the nature of genius, institutional power, and the stubborn human refusal to accept the impossible — questions that resonate far beyond the 18th-century world it so vividly conjures. For anyone who has ever stared at the horizon and wondered what lies beyond, this is a story that will not let go.