![]() ![]() … they all got where they were going willy-nilly, by forces attributed to good luck or the grace of God.”(p. As Douglas Hunter mentions in his book “Half Moon” and Dava Sobel reminds us: “ … every great captain in the Age of Exploration became lost at sea despite the best available charts and compasses. Ptolemy is mentioned, as well as Columbus, Galileo, Gemma Frisius and many others. Ms Sobel concentrates on telling a fascinating history. But fortunately, mathematical and technical information is kept to the bare minimum. ![]() ![]() As my brain goes on the blink the moment anything vaguely mathematical turns up, her explanations about calculations and similar background information did not land. In ensuing chapters she deals with the history of latitude and longitude. On the first few pages, Dava Sobel explains her fascination with the subject. In fifteen chapters and about 180 pages, this slim book’s first edition not only tells a story of a lone genius. It is upsetting to read how he was treated. Her book tells the story of a man who dedicated his life to solving a scientific problem. So with the help of the internet, it was not difficult to find the book on which this documentary was partly based.ĭava Sobel’s “Longitude, The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time” was first published in 1995. Thanks to an impressive BBC television documentary seen a few years ago, the story was more or less familiar. ![]() After reading Douglas Hunter’s book “Half Moon”, of course the next book simply had to be about longitude. ![]()
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