The tenth anniversary edition of the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest: the search for the solution of how to calculate longitude and the unlikely triumph of an English genius. With a new Foreword by the celebrated astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Tenth anniversary edition of the bestseller. Dramatic human story of the epic scientific quest for a method to calculate longitude and the unlikely triumph of an English genius. Full of heroism and chicanery, brilliance and the absurd, "Longitude" is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation and clockmaking. "Sobel has done the impossible and made horology sexy" "New Scientist"

First paperback edition of the unexpected hardback bestseller which clocked up over 350,000 sales in the UK alone. An award winning science reporter for the (New York Times), Sobel tells the dramatic story of John Harrison and his mechanical solution to a problem that had defeated Galileo and Newton. "Sobel has done the impossible and made horology sexy" (New Scientist). "Perhaps the most famous book about getting lost since (The Odyssey. Sunday Telegraph). "A fine tribute to a man who changed the world" (Irish Times).