Longitude

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

My thanks to my friend Scott, who recommended this to me. Before computers, satellites, global positioning systems, and before clocks could keep accurate time, explorers traveled the open seas. I think we fail to appreciate what a brave and courageous task that was. Positions were calculated by the stars, and calculations that took a great deal of time, measuring the sun's position, at night measuring the stars alignment. The inaccuracies often led to doom, either with ships wandering, having missed their destination, or floundering and wrecking on land masses where they had miscalculated their destinations.

If you had asked me prior to reading this book whether this subject would fascinate me, I would have said no. But Ms. Sobel writes so engagingly, explaining rather complex things in ways that made it possible for me to grasp celestial navigation, sextants, and the problem of longitude in a rudimentary way, and then allowing me to be amazed at not only the man who solved the problem through sheer determination, but also through the machinations of the political and scientific bodies that would ultimately decide the fate of the Harrison chronometer. A carpenter solved one of the worlds greatest problems.

A fascinating read. I couldn't put it down.

A KEEPER.