by Dava(Author) ; Armstrong, Neil(Foreword by) Sobel
“In the 1600's, finding longitude was of such importance to the British Navy that the government offered 20,000 pounds to the first person that found an accurate and reliable method. Two camps of competitors quickly came about: astronomers and clock makers.
John Harrison was the skilled and meticulous craftsman that with his knowledge of materials, and numerous innovations, ultimately claimed the prize, though only after decades of struggles with the commission, the astronomers, and the navy.
The beginning of the book especially discusses much about longitude, latitude, meridians, minutes in a degree of rotation, and such. It also has a bit of astronomy, especially the cycles of Jupiter's moons, which Galileo proposed and the 17th century astronomers perfected as a method for determining longitude. While the book will not teach much astronomy or earth science, there's lots of material that will spark further investigations.
The book also involves a lot of important scientists, from Galileo, Brahe, and Kepler, to Newton and Halley, so it makes a great science history read. The book contains no social content that most anyone would find objectionable, so the book can be read by any aged student interested in this type of book.”
