The Illustrated Longitude
A fully illustrated edition of the international best-seller Longitude. The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and three prior centuries: determining how a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. All too often throughout the ages of exploration, voyages ended in disaster when crew and cargo were either lost at sea or destroyed upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution to the longitude problem. To encourage a solution, governments established prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of £20,000-- truly a king's ransom-- was offered by Britain's Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment-- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton-- had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. By contrast, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. Harrison's trials and tribulations during his forty-year quest to win the prize are the culmination of this remarkable story. The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Dava Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire original narrative of Longitude, redesigned to accompany 183 images chosen by William Andrewes-- from portraints of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientifc instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale.
- Price Range:$12.65 to $20.16 | 4 stores
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Smarter Choice
by Dava Sobel and William J. Andrewes. ISBN13: 9780802775931. ISBN10: 0802775934. Published by MPS. Edition: 98 Used
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Illustrated Longitude: The True Story...
Scientists - General Biography & Autobiography - A fully illustrated edition of the international best-seller... |
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The Illustrated Longitude: The True...
When Dava Sobel's Longitude was published to universal acclaim in 1995, readers voiced only one regret: that it was... |
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The Illustrated Longitude: The True...
Pages: 216, Paperback, Walker & Company |
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ProductReviews84/100 (42 Reviews)
Recent Reviews
- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Aug-14-2009
- There is no Shortitude about Longitude
This book is an incredible account of one man's persistence and ingenuity that solved a thousand year old riddle and changed maritime history. The illustrations and pictures make this story leap from the pages and straight into your...
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- 4/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: May-31-2008
- A Wonderful Book
This is a book that I have enjoyed reading and viewing the great illustrations. I have learned so much about a topic of which I knew next to nothing.
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- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Oct-20-2007
- Longitude; long on interest
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...
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- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Sep-24-2007
- Much better with Andrewes illustrations
I met William Andrewes at a talk about his longitude dial. Never read Dava Sobel before and found the text week or at least week without the illustrations. The history in these documents and images of paintings made this book a don't...
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Selected Reviews
- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Aug-14-2009
- There is no Shortitude about Longitude
This book is an incredible account of one man's persistence and ingenuity that solved a thousand year old riddle and changed maritime history. The illustrations and pictures make this story leap from the pages and straight into your...
- read full review | report as inappropriate
- 3/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Oct-22-2004
- Interesting History, But....
The Illustrated Longitude has much going for it. Handsomely produced, lovely illustrations, an obscure but interesting topic, and written well in Sobel's engrossing prose. The book seems like a labor of love by an author who is...
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- 2/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Dec-19-2005
- A well done book on a boring subject (to me)
You must know by now, the prize for determining longitude at sea prior to satalites, etc.A race between the sextant types (astronomy) and the creation of a clock that does not lose time at sea(now available at all malls).If your interest...
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