Dava Sobel's Longitude tells the story of how 18th-century scientist and clockmaker William Harrison solved one of the most perplexing problems of history--determining east-west location at sea. This lush, colorfully illustrated edition adds lots of pictures to the story, giving readers a more satisfying sense of the times, the players, and the puzzle. This was no obscure, curious difficulty--without longitude, ships often found themselves so far off course that sailors would starve or die of scurvy before they could reach port. When a nationally-sponsored contest offered a hefty cash prize to the person who could develop a method to accurately determine longitude, the race was on. In the end, the battle of accuracy--and wills--fought between Harrison and arch-rival Maskelyne was ruthless and dramatic, worthy of a Hollywood feature film. Longitude's story is surprising and fascinating, offering a window into the past, before Global Positioning Satellites made it look easy. --Therese Littleton

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.

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 distances at the equator, and north or south to the poles. Ancillary details include how scurvey was conquered, economic imact of wayward sailing voyages, and social aspects of world-wide trade on the high seas. The illustrated version is a pleasure to the eye.

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 put it down event. I've even used some of the history noted in public talks on astronomy. Highly recommended. I've shared it with several colleagues.

John S.

An easy to read and enjoyable (hi)story about the efforts that have been made in the past centuries to find an way of navigating at sea. Every aspect finding the longitude has been covered. The book contains a lot of pictures and graphics that deepens out some (technical) background issues. It provides just enough details so that the subject is well understood, but no too much, making is suitable for every interested reader.
So, if you are interested in navigating, reading this book gives you an good insight in the amount of work people have done in the past to make that possible.

As an "electronic geographer" (geographic information systems... computerized mapping... operator and manager), I was immediately attracted to Sobel's story upon it's original publication in 1995. Technically, navigationally, and economically speaking this is, as others have stated, a truly epic and civilization-changing story that is well and readably told by Sobel. On the first read I was awestruck to learn that craftsmen of the 18th century could make timepieces of the accuracy that Harrison achieved. Then further amazed to learn they were made portable and durable enough to withstand the rigors of years of service at sea. As I read Sobel's original book my curosity about what these amazing pieces of incredible craftsmenship (art?) LOOKED LIKE was a continual distraction. The "Illustrated Longitude" delightfully sates the curosity that Sobel's text so pleasantly gives rise to.