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Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Category: Paperback
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0140258795
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Average Customer Review: 
(From 251 total reviews)
List Price: $13.00
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com:
The thorniest scientific problem of the eighteenth century was how to determine longitude. Many thousands of lives had been lost at sea over the centuries due to the inability to determine an east-west position. This is the engrossing story of the clockmaker, John “Longitude” Harrison, who solved the problem that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer, yet claimed only half the promised rich reward.
Book Description:
During the great ages of exploration, “the longitude problem” was the gravest of all scientific challenges. Lacking the ability to determine their longitude, sailors were literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Ships ran aground on rocky shores; those traveling well-known routes were easy prey to pirates.
In 1714, England’s Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. The scientific establishment–from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton–had mapped the heavens in its certainty of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution–a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had been able to do on land. And the race was on….
Customer Reviews
Great Read by Brian Jones
Dava Sobel’s Longitude manages to be both entertaining and enlightening. It’s hard to imagine a book based on such a taken for granted historical landmark could prove to be such a good read. Personally, I must to confess a preference for historical issues, and John Harrison proved to be an engaging figure if for nothing else than his single mindedness to the task at hand. He spend the larger part of his life trying to solve a single riddle, and in the process, solved many others.
Too long this longitude by K. Desatta
Although this book is small, the material still had to be stretched to get as far as it went. For anyone interested in a look at 17th and 18th politics, science and nefarious dealings, however, this book is for you. And it’s a one day read. I would recommend this book for a high school or undergraduate level science project; the book does presuppose some knowledge of plane geography. You also get some interesting by-products of the quest for the way to determine longitude on the high seas.
Good popular book, but it needs a bit more. by Jesse Rouse
I won’t bother telling you what the book was about, as a few hundred people have already explained it in their reviews, so I will simply explain what the book got right and what it was missing.
First, it was an excellent popular-level introduction to John Harrison, the longitude problem, and the invention of the watch sturdy enough and precise enough to measure time with extreme precision aboard a ship to allow for the calculation of longetivity. Sobel presents the information in a very clear way (for the most part), and does not (often) delve into technical discussion which the average reader will not understand. I personally learned quite a bit from this book, as it was my first exposure to the longitude issue and John Harrison. I did not know that either existed before reading this book, and now I think I have an adequate grasp of both, so this book was a success.
However, it could have been better. Much better. As other reviewers have noted, this book REALLY needed some pictures, or diagrams, or something. A description of an incredibly complex clock/watch does NOT really help the average reader know how it worked, or even what it looked like. There were a number of times that Sobel would describe what Harrison did to his invention, and I wouldn’t really understand exactly what was happening. I fail to understand why some diagrams or illustrions were not included, as their absence is glaringly obvious and irritating.
Other than that, my only complaint is that it was a little short and could stand to have a bit more detail. I understand that it is a popular book, but it was still a bit on the skimpy side when it came to details. It seemed to spend lots of time giving details about the longitude problem, then the last part of the book just sped through the life and inventions of Harrison without really getting into detail. It had a somewhat rushed feel, and I really think the book would be significantly better if it had about another 25 pages or so added to the Harrison section.
In short, the only things that separate this good book from being a great book are the lack of diagrams/illustrations and the slightly annoying lack of detail toward the end of the book. It’s not as good as Galileo’s Daughter, but it’s a pretty good book I’d recommend reading, especially since it will only take a few hours.
Overall grade: B+
A story of mechanical genius that may be unequaled by Charles Ashbacher
The last years of the seventeenth century and the first years of the eighteenth century saw the rise of significant global commerce. With few land routes and none capable of handling large amounts of cargo, the only option for shipping was via the oceans. As long as the ships stayed within sight of land, they generally knew where they were. However, that had its’ dangers as it was always possible that a storm would dash the ship onto the land. Furthermore, many of the new voyages required movement across vast areas of ocean, and to do so safely it is necessary to have an accurate way to determine the location of the ship.
Fixing the latitude was easy, as long as the position of the sun could be determined; it was possible to determine the latitude. Therefore, only the most overcast of days prevented the navigators from computing the latitude. However, fixing the longitude was much more complex and several ways were put forward. All involved some form of timekeeping, if you knew your local time and the time at a fixed point or longitude zero, the difference could be used to fix the longitude. Determining the local time was again easy and also involved determining the current position of the sun. Unfortunately, keeping the time of longitude zero was very difficult.
All of the timepieces of the era were inherently inaccurate and grew even more so when they were jostled about by the rolling of a ship. Since being off by even a few minutes could be critical, it was necessary to have a clock that was sturdy and accurate. The problem was considered so significant that in 1714 the English Parliament offered an enormous reward for a solution.
John Harrison believed that a solution was possible and after years of effort, he developed one. In the process he solved some very complex mechanical problems. Due to the wide range of temperatures that the clock would be exposed to, the expansion and shrinking of metals would cause the clock to vary. His solution was to put two different metals together so that the changes would offset each other. This strategy is the basis of the modern thermostat.
A second problem was one of lubrication. If the moving parts were not lubricated, the friction would cause wear that would lead to imprecision. If a lubricant were used, the changing temperatures would lead to a change in viscosity and also lead to imprecision. His solution was to use a wood that secreted a lubricant and his end result was a clock that was extremely accurate and very sturdy.
This is a fascinating story of mechanical genius that has probably never been equaled. Harrison’s clocks kept a time so accurate that it was not superseded for centuries. It is a demonstration that humans are so intelligent and resourceful that when a major problem exists that must be solved, a solution will be found. That is a comforting thought as the human race continues to face increasingly greater and more complex environmental problems.
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