Now that I have read one book with a long title I might as well continue the trend. This time by another author. Dava Sobel has written a biography about John Harrison, "a self-taught Yorkshire clockmaker, who battled the establishment in his quest to make the perfect timekeeper and scoop the spoils". The blurb on the cover of Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time is actually completely self explanatory. So is the title.
The book basically tells us the story of the discovery of a watch that enables sailors to understand longitude at sea back in the 1700s. It's an explanation of the whole discovery and the history of navigation. John Harrison spent his whole life designing this device and Sobel tries with her book to make us appreciate and remember him, because it is easy to forget the scientist when we take an invention for granted.
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