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I'd just like to throw out a recommendation here for the book Longitude by Dava Sobel. It's about the invention of the marine chronometer by a self-taught carpe
by complaintdept 2y ago
I'd just like to throw out a recommendation here for the book Longitude by Dava Sobel. It's about the invention of the marine chronometer by a self-taught carpenter. Fascinating read, and a real page turner too.
- kej 2y agoSeconding this, and I'd add that Sobel's Galileo's Daughter was also a good read for anyone interested in the history of science.
- zen_of_prog 2y agoI’m reading and so far enjoying “A Brief History of Timekeeping” by Chad Orzel. Not to discount Harrison’s achievements, but there are other interesting navigational approaches - using Tobias Mayer’s Lunar tables: > Mayer is far less celebrated than Harrison, but his method was in many ways the more immediately successful of the two Or, if society were to collapse and rebuild, Lewis Dartnell proposes a radio in “The Knowledge”, since a radio transmitter is probably simpler to build than an accurate chronometer.