Books about Latitude & Longitude

Complied by the employees at the Longitude Store!

NOVA: Lost at Sea - The
Search for Longitude (1998)

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

How did they make long ocean voyages before
satellite tracking? Mostly by sheer luck and
guesswork, until a secure method for
establishing position by the stars was
discovered. NOVA traces the roots of this
discovery in Lost at Sea: The Search for
Longitude, showing how one unschooled
carpenter, John Harrison, proved the best
minds of his generation (including Sir Isaac
Newton) wrong by building a clock accurate
enough to keep time on the high seas.

The thorniest scientific problem of the
eighteenth century was how to determine
longitude. Many thousands of lives had
been lost at sea over the centuries due to
the inability to determine an east-west
position. This is the engrossing story of the
clockmaker, John "Longitude" Harrison,
who solved the problem that Newton and
Galileo had failed to conquer, yet claimed
only half the promised rich reward.

Available at Amazon- Click here.

Available at Amazon- Click Here

Longitude
DVD ~ Charles
Sturridge

Longitude
VHS~ Charles
Sturridge

Gracefully adapted from Dava Sobel's
extraordinary bestseller, the four-part TV
production of Longitude combines drama,
history, and science into a stimulating,
painstakingly authentic account of
personal triumph and joyous discovery.

The same set but in a four tape VHS
collection

Available at Amazon- Click here.

Sea Warriors - The Royal
Navy in the Age of Sail
DVD ~ Chip Richie

The Measure of All Things: The
Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error
that Transformed the World

This is a 'must have' documentary for
anyone who enjoys the sea and wants to
get an idea what life was really like in the
age of the square-rigger. You don't have to
be British to enjoy this work as our own US
sailors had very similar experiences on
ships of the same period!

Most people don't think about how a
mile became a mile or a foot a foot, but
Alder here presents a fascinating
account of how the meter the
standard measure of distance for over
95 percent of the world's population
became the meter. We live in an era
when standard measures for objects
and time have become so common
that we would have difficulty
imagining a world without them.

Available at Amazon- Click here.

Sea Clocks : The Story of Longitude
by Louise Borden, Erik Blegvad
(Illustrator)

For
Kids!

Available at Amazon- Click here.

Grade 3-5-This handsome, well-researched
picture book introduces John Harrison,
the 18th-century English carpenter
turned clockmaker who spent more than
40 years perfecting a device that solved
the centuries-old problem of determining
longitude. Beginning with Harrison's
childhood, Borden presents biographical
tidbits that bring the man to life, show
how he differed from "most other village
folk," and set the scene for his later
accomplishments.

Available at Amazon- Click here.

The Longitude Prize
by Joan Dash, Dusan Petricic
(Illustrator)

For
Kids!

Longitude And Empire: How
Captain Cook's Voyages
Changed The World
by Brian W. Richardson

We take so much for granted today that it
is difficult to appreciate the magnitude of
John Harrison’s accomplishments. The
author, however, begins by recounting
several disastrous voyages where 1000s of
English seamen died because, having no
means of determining longitude, they
simply did not know where they were – or
more to the point, they did not know
where land was and so crashed onto it.

The amazing story of Captain Cook
and his voyage that changed the
world. This wonderful history
details the life and death struggle
to compute accurate longitude.

Available at Amazon- Click here.

The American Atlas, Expanded 5th
Edition by Thomas G. Shanks
(Compiler)