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

Sobel presents the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of John Harrison's 40-year obsession with building the perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer.

Dava Sobel is the bestselling author of Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter, and The Planets, coauthor of The Illustrated Longitude, and editor of Letters to Father. She lives in East Hampton, New York.

Praise for Longitude:

“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. 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