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Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time |  |
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Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time | |
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. 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. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution-a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land. 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. 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.
媒体推荐“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
作者简介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.
网友对Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time的评论
真实的故事，却比小说更精彩！John Harrison 从一开始为了2万英镑的巨额奖金开始研究航海钟，到后来不断自我突破刷新计时精度，H1,H2,H3,H4,花费数十年穷其一生，不断推进航海钟的创新。虽然后期在时钟法与天体观测法的争斗中受到不公正的待遇，但最终Harrion证明了自身伟大的价值。高精度航海钟的发明，为大航海时代扫除了障碍，为日不落帝国的崛起作出卓越贡献！如若下次有机会，定要去伦敦市政厅，参观下那些代表技术文明荣耀的展品！
Having bought and read "Longitude", the only lightly illustrated original hardback version, I wanted to know more about how the actual clocks worked, and I wanted to see them, without making a trans-Atlantic pilgrimage to Greenwich.
Hence, when I saw an illustrated version of "Longitude", I had to buy it. This book contains the original text, with no additions, except for the illustrations. The photographs are beautifully done, as is the printing.
My only hesitation in not awarding the book five stars is that I was hoping for one of two things; either an illustrated version of the original, with a couple of pictures of each chronometer, at a reasonable price, or a more detailed illustrated version, with more information on how the chronometers actually work. What we ended up with is a compromise. Beautiful pictures of the chronometers, but little extra detail of Harrison's marvelous inventions.
Still, an improvement on the original, which is an excellent book, one I have read several times. Highly recommended.
By the way, when I purchased this book, I donated my original version to the library.
In the age of GPS it is hard to believe that there was a time when sailors could not navigate the seas in safety. This book is so interesting and easy to read, yet it explains the discovery of how to determine Longitude in a way that is fascinating for adults and excellent for young teenagers as well. I always have three copies of the Illustrated book on hand. I give them as gifts all the time. I read this book while I was traveling and I had the opportunity to visit the The Royal Naval Museum, in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard, England, that houses these wonderful clocks. One of my favorite books.
An amazing story, well told. As I owned the original hard cover, which I enjoyed so much, I decided to purchase this version as my first eBook.
However, I had hoped that the Kindle version would include at least one picture (as in the "Illustrated Longitude") book. Sadly not a single image. Even the cover page is bare. The Illustrated version of the book is so much more enjoyable when you can actually see the amazing clocks and detail that Harrison designed and built. Still a great story but the images really help bring it to life and would have made eBook version 5 stars.
The Illustrated hard cover version: The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
This is a book for those of us who are curious about the sciences but do not have the education to understand in a scientific way. This book explains why early navigation on the seas was hard because it was difficult to tell how far one had travelled east and west around the Earth. Many navigators used the moon to judge their position, but this was difficult and no exact. Then it was determined that if you had clocks, you could measure the difference in time from a fixed spot on Earth and where you were. An Englishman named Harrison invented a clock that would remain accurate on board a ship and that is the way a navigator found his longitudinal position until satellites changed that for ever. Dava Sobel writes with simple words and descriptions so that even us dummies can catch on.
A wonderful story of people and technology and society. What might have made it even greater would have been some drawings of the instruments used by sailors of the time and the mechanical elements of the clocks that Harrison either invented or improved upon. The book captures so beautifully both the attitudes of the time and the greatness of the accomplishments overall that one wishes for more clarity on what was actually being done and created. Indeed I found myself moved by the descriptions of the story to go on the web looking up such terms as " the Grasshopper escapement" to try and gain a greater understanding of what Harrison really accomplished and the instruments the sailors of his time used for navigation. A little more effort on illustrations and drawings would have provided so much more. But overall a wonderful and important read.
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