About Dava Sobel. This genius is credited with producing the first marine machine to accurately calculate. The story of John (Longitude) Harrison disproves this. Thanks to GPS, we can forget that calculating longitude without the help of a network of satellites is difficult and requires great mathematical and engineering expertise. When you know what happens the genie is out of the bottle and the t ale is just routine. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. I loved this book! Longitude is this thing which is about something being long and having attitude, if we remember correctly. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of … Unable to add item to List. The cause of this catastrophe was the inability to determine longitude, a problem that beset mariners everywhere. Also, really short! Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947) is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. But they actually thought they could get somewhere." Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day—and had been for centuries. … I'm not quite sure how to classify this book - history, biography, scientific treatise. With a new Foreword by the celebrated astronaut Neil Armstrong. Now I wish I have had a closer look at H4, the actual prize-winning marine timekeeper made by the lone genius John Harrison. His relations with the board became so acrimonious that eventually his friends went over the board's head and appealed directly to the King himself. Although latitude is fixed by the earth and Columbus could sail a "straight line" in 1492 relative to a fixed latitudinal parallel, longitude made sailors feel they were on a train and looking at another train, trying to determine which one just began moving. The Greek astronomers could measure latitude as early as the third century b.c., but more than 2,000 years passed before the development of a reliable method for measuring longitude. Seems like she repeats the Shovell story nearly every chapter, along with the fact that sailors couldn't determine longitude without a clock. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Dava Sobel, Writer: Nova. In 1714, the English Parliament passed the longitude act. From: Bahamut Media (Reading, United Kingdom) Seller Rating: Add to Basket £ 2.72. Whether it flows as sand or turns on wheels within wheels, time escapes irretrievably, while we watch. On October 22, 1707 four English warships crashed into the rocks of the Scilly Isles southwest of England. Swiss wrist watch for him. I was left hoping for more detail and depth. As Sobel himself says, it is written as an informative not an academic book and it succeeds well. I take GPS for granted. Longitude is a remarkable achievement. I don’t use it that much personally, because I don’t tend to go anywhere, but I’m sure all this technology I love to use makes use of GPS. The introductory chapter has been merited as an unorthodox opening whereby all is revealed in brief, then the rest of the book fills in the detail. Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947) is the author of Longitude, Galileo's Daughter, The Planets, and A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. To win the full prize, the method or device had. Microhistory: Social Histories of Just One Thing, Noble Obsession Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Centur, Noble Obsession Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century, [Poll Book Tally] Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Great Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel 3 stars, [Poll Ballot] Longitude by Dava Sobel - 4 stars, Longitude:The True Story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time by Dava Sobel 4 stars, [Listopia] Longitude: the true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time – Dava Sobel - 4 stars, Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson Shares His Reading Recommendations. The most we can hope a watch to do is mark that progress. He was barely conscious but alive. To quote an esteemed LC history professor on the technical difficulties of pre-modern navigational technology: "Nowadays, you'd refer to that as being lost. She was previously married to Arthur C. Klein. Backing off to the early part of the exponential function, you'd find glacier speeds of innovations (from today's perspective). Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, Paperback – Illustrated, November 5, 2007. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. Start by marking “Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time” as Want to Read: Error rating book. "A 1964 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, she has taught several seminars in science writing at the university level, and held a two-year residency at Smith College in fall 2013. Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947, The Bronx, New York) is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love, The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of the Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time 1st (first) Thus Edition by Sobel, Dava published by Walker & Company (1998), The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars. Shortly after people discovered that the world was round and wanted to sail around it, they realized that they had no way of telling how far they'd gone and how close they were to where they wanted to be, as opposed to how close they were to the Bermuda Triangle, for example, or the giant. High stakes (both in terms of the potential benefits to be had from being able to use longitude, and in terms of the reward value placed on finding a solution), but while the author keeps on reminding us that it's very important, and telling us that his struggles with the politics of the board who were supposed to award the reward were very severe, I generally felt underwhelmed by the story, or maybe the way it was being told and structured. The thorniest scientific problem of the day had occupied scientists and their patrons for the better part of two centuries until John Harrison dared to imagine a mechanical solution. Hardcover. Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. for such things. The focus then shifts to a biography of John Harrison, the 18th century clockmaker who attempted to solve this problem based on timekeeping. The publication of Longitude taught me that a book can actually improve by virtue of being read. An engaging overview of the solution(s) to the longitude problem - recommended, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2018. The Board of Longitude, which would be primarily comprised of astronomers, was set up to award the money. Or, it requires very accurate measurement of time. GPS might not be great at giving directions, but that doesn’t mean you’re lost. It also describes his primary competitor and adversary, Nevil Maskelyne, who was keen on proving that the best approach involved astronomical readings. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2018. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2017. But it's not that simple because, for example, the equator is wider around the earth than the Tropic of Capricorn or the Arctic Circle. Former New York Times reporter Sobel (coauthor, Arthritis: What Works, 1989, etc.) Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time is a historical biography by Dava Sobel. Longitude by Dava Sobel. In Longitude, Dava Sobel chronicles the world's quest to tame time. Andrewes, is breathtaking for its graphic displays, and may I say even more informative over the academic /mechanical rivalry to solve the lontitude question . Not told in a fictionalized sense at all, but more a recital of fact, placements, and progression. In 1714, the English Parliament passed the longitude act. The subject's work product is and has been well known and studied at length, but there are not enough details about the technology included in this book. Longitude (Dava Sobel) – At sea in the XVIII century. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. This is a copy of the first UK trade paperback edition with a new introduction by Neil Armstrong that has been SIGNED by Dava Sobel with her "41N 72W" notation and is dated 21 Apr 12! The author’s research covered several hundred years of partial success and many failures. Please try your request again later. The rate of tec. Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947) is the author of Longitude, Galileo's Daughter, The Planets, and A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. But longitude (circles which intersect at each pole - used to measure east/west distance) is much more of a challenge. .orange-text-color {font-weight:bold; color: #FE971E;}Ask Alexa to read your book with Audible integration or text-to-speech. Reasonably written. In 1714 the British Parliament set a £20,000 reward for whoever could solve the problem. Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2017. A 1964 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, Ms. Sobel attended Antioch College and the City College of New York before receiving her bachelor of arts degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1969. Longitude was a huge problem, that was incredibly important to travel. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published We all knew that before buying this book. Reasonably written. The author is not a good story teller, either. Longitude. This book tells you the fascinating stories around the end of the 18th century when precision timekeeper was just about to be invented and chronometer was not a word yet. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. The clock maker who succeeded with that bio-metal strip that did not alter the time by expansion or shrinking of the components became part of the key. The dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of one man's forty-year obsession to find a solution to the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--"the longitude problem. This book does not justify its rave reviews. Refresh and try again. But longitude (circles which intersect at each pole - used to measure east/west distance) is much more of a challenge. Unfortunately, the people involved are history's greatest astronomers and physicists. Her books include Longitude, about English clockmaker John Harrison, and Galileo's Daughter, about Galileo's daughterMaria Celeste. Had he resisted the urge to build a better clock before claiming the prize, he would have won the prize out right. Longitude book by Dava Sobel Reviewed by Rodford Edmiston. In 1714, the English Parliament passed the longitude act. I was left hoping for more detail and depth, Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2017. A few years back, I gave him a different watch, a solar-powered so-called atomic watch which is really a quartz watch that can synchronize to real atomic clocks through broadcast towers on three (or was it 4) continents. Determining a position requires much more sophisticated astronomical measurement and calculation. It also describes his primary competitor and adversary, Nevil Maskelyne, who was keen on proving that the best approach involved astronomical readings. In 1714 the British Parliament set a £20,000 reward for whoever could solve the problem. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. Interesting review of the tale toward discovering a correct way to measure longitude for a ship at sea. The tenth anniversary edition of the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest: the search for the solution of how to calculate longitude and the unlikely triumph of an English genius. Inferior seamen were not allowed to keep their own calculations of maritime reckoning, not in 1707. ENVÍO GRATIS en 1 día desde 19€. “This is a gem of a book.” ―Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times“A simple tale, brilliantly told.” ―Washington Post Book World“As much a tale of intrigue as it is of science…A book full of gems for anyone interested in history, geography, astronomy, navigation, clockmaking, and--not the least--plain old human ambition and greed.” ―Philadelphia Inquirer“Only someone with Dava Sobel's unusual background in both astronomy and psychology could have written it. There is much wholly detail about early efforts to solve the Longitude problem. As it was it very much felt like a summary or an abstract rather than the meat of a true historical account, with a s. Maybe Longitude suffered by comparison with my previous read, Amir Alexander's Infinitesimal, but this book felt very light and frothy. The Board of Longitude, which would be primarily comprised of astronomers, was set up to award the money. As it was it very much felt like a summary or an abstract rather than the meat of a true historical account, with a sense of disconnect from the events described. . It established the Board of Longitude and offered a prize of 20,000 pounds to anyone who could find a simple and practical method for … Longitude, a recommended book for our “Hope on the Horizon” summer reading challenge, is a classic true tale of persistence rewarded. She has an extraordinary gift of making difficult ideas clear." This genius is credited with producing the first marine machine to accurately calculate longitude. But I found it intriguing and educational. For me that is the major problem. Dava Sobel. Thousands of lives, and the increasing fortunes of nations, hung on a resolution. With Jeremy Irons, Anna Chancellor, Emma Kay, Samuel West. They just keep up with it, if they're able.”, Royal Society Science Book Prize Nominee for General Prize (1997). Stellar nonfiction, exceptionally well-written. A former staff science reporter for The New York Times, she has also written for numerous magazines, including Discover, Harvard Magazine, Smithsonian, and The New Yorker . ... 'Rarely have I enjoyed a book as much as Dava Sobel's Longitude. Even before the publication of Longitude twenty-five years ago, I learned about a group of women who worked at the Harvard College Observatory in the nineteenth century, analyzing images of the stars to fantastic effect.. They and many others vied for the monetary prize offered by the British government. Published by Fourth Estate 05/09/2005 (2005) ISBN 10: 0007214464 ISBN 13: 9780007214464. George III asked that a special act of Parliament be passed and Harrison finally received his prize. In Longitude, Dava Sobel chronicles the world's quest to tame time. Interesting story. 1-Page Summary of Longitude Friedman’s book, Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11 (2002), is a collection of diary entries he published in The New York Times. First published in 1995 and nominated for the 1997 Royal Society Science Book Prize, the book tells the story of one scientist’s lifelong journey to … Directed by Charles Sturridge. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Something went wrong. On October 22, 1707 four English warships crashed into the rocks of the Scilly Isles southwest of England. Latitude - 'the parallels' - had always been relatively simple to measure. In particular Sobel highlights John Harrison's pursuit of the prize. It is a very goo read. Until reading this book, I did not know that a problem existed determining where a ship was situated longitudinally. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Trade Paperback. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Swiss wrist watch for him. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Likewise, if you're expecting a a blow-by-blow account of his inventions and dealings with the Board of Longitude, you are also going to be disappointed. Dava Sobel has written a gem of a book...one of the best reads for the non-scientific writing to come along for many a moon." She holds honorary doctor of letters degrees from the University of Bath, in England, and M. Dava Sobel is an accomplished writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. I can't remember if I read the book first or saw the television series first, but some combination of the two was like a long, calm, very safe ocean voyage. It would do well to be required reading in our schools actually as there's so much to be gained in perspective. Thousands of lives, and the increasing fortunes of. As far as popular science writing, or popular history of science writing (take your pick) goes, I've read better books. No diagrams to explain the text where it would assist the reader. Instead it focused on description of John Harrison's quest to build an ocean chronometer. Please try again. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Really fun! "Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day-and had been for centuries. An amazing man, John Harrison, worked tirelessly to conquer the problem. How the academic astronomers, kept trying to do down Harrison, who in the true British fashion of the gifted amateur (being neither a trained watch maker nor scientist but a carpenter) won in the end through persistence and hard graft. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Dava Sobel has written a gem of a book...one of the best reads for the non-scientific writing to come along for many a moon." If the sky was overcast, an accurate clock was needed on board. Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Turtleback, 1996 - Juvenile Nonfiction - 184 pages. Nice, does what. Financial Times "A true life thriller, jam-packed with political intrigue, international warfare, personal feuds and financial skullduggery." Skip it. Financial Times "A true life thriller, jam-packed with political intrigue, international warfare, personal feuds and financial skullduggery." Please try again. Daily Mail "Rarely have I enjoyed a book as much as Dava Sobel's Longitude. He almost let his £20,000 prize slip away, because he wasn't satisfied with his first clock designed for the sea. But they actually thought they could get somewhere." One of his sailors tried to call attention to the upcoming catastrophe...but was immediately hanged. This is an extremely disappointing read. First published in 1996, Dava Sobel's story of an epic scientific quest - how to calculate longitude. Well, clearly we didn't as Dava Sobel's magnificent history book/scientific exposition is an account of how one lone genius went and solved the most gigantic scientific dilemma of his era (no, not why Cornflakes go soggy after you… Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2019. The analysis of Harrison's clocks is far more focused on the decorations of their faces than on his novel engineering. Condition: Fine. The author’s research covered several hundred years of partial success and many failures. It established the Board of Longitude and offered a prize of 20,000 pounds to anyone who could find a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world. The shipwreck of Sir Shovell's fleet, the fact that longitude was impossible to determine, and the term "bimetallic" is the limit of the author's analytical depth in this book. We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Unitil the mid 1700s the world lacked the science to know where ships were at sea - with often tragic results. To help resolve this problem a prize of £20,000 was established to be awarded when a proven solution was established. This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. Sobel does a really good job of bringing her material to life and communicating information in a delightful way, and hearing Neil Armstrong's Intro was pretty cool, too. Longitude is a wonderful story, wonderfully told.” ―Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses“The marine chronometer is a glorious and fascinating object, but it is not a simple one, and its explanation calls for a writer as skilled with words as the watchmakers were with their tools; happily such a writer has been found in Dava Sobel.” ―Patrick O'Brian, author of The Commodore and the Aubrey/Maturin series. I get that Dava Sobel was writing for a general audience and that I'm a scientist by training, but I would have really appreciated a few more sources or direct quotes from source texts and letters to connect with the historical figures described. Karma had the last laugh, as the Admiral went to his own reckoning. It has also been criticized as a romantic fantasy. If the sky was clear, the 'clock of the heavens' helped determine the position. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Jealous rivals on the board used their influence to change the rules of the contest multiple times. Adjusted for inflation, this second watch is probably cheaper. It would do well to be required reading in our schools actually as there's so much to be gained in perspective of application of science and history. We’d love your help. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. The recipe for sales success in international book sales rarely contains such unpromising ingredients as these – an obsessive carpenter’s son from Yorkshire, an intractable navigational problem and a lot of clocks. Has anyone else read it? An amazing book following the attempts to solve the longitudinal navigation problems. High stakes (both in terms of the potential benefits to be had from being able to use longitude, and in terms of the reward. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Pretty much everything in the book is based on researched facts and records. And since time sets its own tempo, like a heartbeat or an ebb tide, timepieces don't really keep time. UK Paperback Edition/First Printing. This story is sort of a biography about a person whom the author explains there is not much known. October 1st 2005 The subtitle here tells the reader exactly what the book is about; what it doesn't say is how much fun it is to read. by Walker Books, Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. When my dad went to college back in 1958, my grandma spent a small fortune to buy a 17-jewel (or was it 11?) It’s worth a read but will end up at our local charity shop. What a let-down. Th. Welcome back. Just finished it and really enjoyed it. Which is a shame, as the events are fascinating! Longitude. The necessity this time was navigation -- or more specifically, longitudinal navigation. He was barely conscious but alive. She traces the arc of his career, and details the innovations of each of his subsequent entries (H1-H5) Unfortunately, even though his Chronometers repeatedly proved their worth in Sea trial after sea trial, and the watch quickly gained adherents among sea captains, Harrison was thwarted at every turn in his attempt to claim the prize. And yet time refuses to be bottled up like a genie stuffed in a lamp. .orange-text-color {font-weight:bold; color: #FE971E;}View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look. Detailed descriptions of the clocks and their engineering advancements are absent. Photo by Ragesoss (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu. Dava Sobel has written a gem of a book…one of the best reads for the non-scientific writing to come along for many a moon.\" Financial Times \"A true life thriller, jam-packed with political intrigue, international warfare, personal feuds and financial skullduggery.\" Daily Mail \"Rarely have I enjoyed a book as much as Dava Sobel's Longitude. An amazing man, John Harrison, worked tirelessly to conquer the problem. To see what your friends thought of this book, Just finished it and really enjoyed it. This book is a fascinating history of the development of a mechanical chronometer. A former staff science reporter for The New York Times, she has also written for numerous magazines, including Discover, Harvard Magazine, Smithsonian, and The New Yorker.Her most unforgettable assignment at the Times required her to live 25 days as a research subject in the chronophysiology lab at Montefiore Hospital, where the boarded-up windows and specially trained technicians kept her from knowing whether it was day outside or night.Her work has won recognition from the National Science Board, which gave her its 2001 Individual Public Service Award "for fostering awareness of science and technology among broad segments of the general public." One of his sailors tried to call attention to the upcoming catastrophe...but was immediately hanged. Consequently it did not deal much with the details either of the astronomical or mechanical approaches to solving the problem of finding longitude on the high seas. October 30, 2007 Dava Sobel. I get that Dava Sobel was writing for a general audience and that I'm a scientist by training, but I would have really appreciated a few more sources or direct quotes from source texts and letters to connect with the historical figures described. Instead it focused on description of John Harrison's quest to build an ocean chronometer. Instead, he ended up competing head-on with a lunar distance technique created by people favored by the committee that oversaw the giving of the prize money. Ships routinely missed their destinations, often taking excessive time to arrive or succumbing to reefs off fogbound shores. Solved the longitude problem Invented the chronometer Lunar Distance Method "Cook returned from his second voyage with bouquets of praise for the method of finding longitude by means of a timekeeper." Non-fiction about the quest to develop a reliable method for measuring longitude. Simplistic terms like "bimetallic strip" are promoted as the entire explanation, with no further information provided. It's short and informative but actually quite on the dry side. I remember visiting Royal Museums Greenwich in London with my children several years ago. They quickly sank killing 2,000 men. It established the Board of Longitude and offered a prize of 20,000 pounds to anyone who could find a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. Thank you to my daughter who bought this for me at her school’s book sale. Yet Longitude succeeds in weaving a narrative full of clashing of ideas, intriguing personalities, bizarre anecdotes and at its heart a tale of the little guy challenging the Establishment. Not told in a fictionalized sense at all, but more a recital of fact, placements, and progression. LONGITUDE de DAVA SOBEL. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. She traces the arc of his career, and details the innovations of each of his subsequent entries (H1-H5) Unfortunately, eve. Her books include Longitude, about English clockmaker John Harrison, and Galileo's Daughter, about Galileo's daughter Maria Celeste, and The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars. Shortly after people discovered that the world was round and wanted to sail around it, they realized that they had no way of telling how far they'd gone and how close they were to where they wanted to be, as opposed to how close they were to the Bermuda Triangle, for example, or the giant pointy sneak-attack rocks that were about to sink their ship. .orange-text-color {color: #FE971E;} Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration. Especially interesting was the English contest for solving the problem. 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