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

Written by:
Dava Sobel
Narrated by:
Neil Armstrong , Kate Reading

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
15
Narrator
3
Release Date
October 2005
Duration
4 hours 20 minutes
Summary
An exciting scientific adventure from the days of wooden ships and iron men, LONGITUDE is full of heroism and chicanery, brilliance and the absurd. It is also a captivating brief history of astronomy, navigation and clockmaking.

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....
Reviews
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Anime S.

i felt so bored

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Anonymous

Good story, well told. The arc of the story will be unfamiliar to most, which makes it both interesting and instructive.

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David O.

Great book, the recording of the narrator could have been better quality but the book itself is good enough to make this bearable.

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