Sobel, Dava (Harrison, John; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence)

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

ISBN: 9780140258790
New York, NY, USA: Penguin, 1995. First Edition. Softcover. From the library of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, with his stylized ownership initial & date. “Once on a Wednesday excursion when I was a little girl, my father bought me a beaded wire ball that I loved. At a touch, I could collapse the toy into a flat coil between my palms, or pop it open to make a hollow sphere. Rounded out, it resembled a tiny Earth, because its hinged wires traced the same pattern of intersecting circles that I had seen on the globe in my schoolroom–the thin black lines of latitude and longitude. The few colored beads slid along the wire paths haphazardly, like ships on the high seas. My father strode up Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Center with me on his shoulders, and we stopped to stare at the statue of Atlas, carrying Heaven and Earth on his. The bronze orb that Atlas held aloft, like the wire toy in my hands, was a see-through world, defined by imaginary lines. The Equator. The Ecliptic. The Tropic of Cancer. The Tropic of Capricorn. The Arctic Circle. The prime meridian. Even then I could recognize, in the graph-paper grid imposed on the globe, a powerful symbol of all the real lands and waters on the planet.”--Dava Sobel, pg. 1-2. Dava Sobel (b. 1947) is an American writer who, throughout the course of her career, has focused on exploring scientific topics and narrativizing them for the wider public. Her works include: Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love (2000); A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos (2011); The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars (2016); and The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science (2024) to name a few. Offered today is the 1995 work, Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. is a book that chronicles the 18th-century quest to solve the "longitude problem". The book focuses on the life of self-taught Yorkshire clockmaker John Harrison (1693-1776) and his decades-long obsession with creating a marine chronometer, a timekeeper accurate enough to allow sailors to determine their longitude at sea. It details his struggle against the scientific establishment and the eventual success of his invention, which won him a prize offered by the British Parliament. Sobel’s style is at once both concise and straightforward, while also being highly lyrical and emotionally resonant. Endlessly captivating, witty, and dripping with pathos, Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time is an incredible work perfect for any fan of scientific history, or more generally, genuinely compelling literature! From the library of the late, great Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021), canonical American poet & founder of City Lights Books, publisher of many Beat Generation writers. Initialed & dated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti at half title-page in thin black ink “f (his signature stylized initial) / ‘97.” First softcover edition though not explicated as such at copyright page, sixth printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. In very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, and slight smudging to front and back covers; interior in very fine condition with minor discoloration due to age-toning. Very Fine. [Item #8237]

Price: $40.00