Longitude
This book is about solving the great problem of how to find Longitude. At first, I hated the book since it was more of a history lesson than an actual book but later on, it got into conflicts and disasters, which really made it interesting. I enjoyed the races between two scientists on who could finish an effective method the fastest or before they died, I was in awe of Harrison?s devotion to his life?s work, and I really love the main race on which version of finding longitude will be accepted first, the lunar method or the time method. When Parliament first set up a prize for whoever could figure out an effective method of finding longitude every jumped in on it and many people claimed the figured it out just so they could get some of the prize and then they never showed their face to prove it. To get this prize for developing a time method for figuring out longitude was a big race. This race was between many scientists but two stand out from the rest, Arnold and Earnshaw. Arnold was a genius in science and marketing because he had a system for making his chronometer, he had many skilled clockmakers make the bulk of the chronometer then he did the detailed and complicated parts himself as to make sure they were built properly.
I personally like the time method because of the ease and because of one of the forefathers of the method, William Harrison. Harrison eventually made five marine timekeepers named H-1, H-2, H-3, H-4, and of course H-5. H-1 though H-3 are not the most portable devices but H-4 is since it is only three pounds while H-1 is seventy-five pounds, H-2 is eighty-six pounds, and H-3 is sixty pounds even. H-4 was not only small but also beautiful with a silver case with designs engraved on it, the hands made from elegant blue steel, and inside among the spinning wheels and cogs are rubies and diamonds doing the work of antifriction wheels. Even though H-5 was more successful than H-4 Harrison still loved his fourth marine timekeeper more than he loved life. On one of H-4?s trial voyages a huge storm brew up and the storm always made sure there was at least two feet of water on the deck and three inches in Harrison?s cabin and Harrison was afraid that H-4 would be ruined if it got wet. So Harrison kept H-4 in a blanket to keep it dry and once the blanket was too soaked to be of any use Harrison slept in the blanket to dry it with his body warmth. Harrison drove a raging fever and almost died for his beloved invention. H-5 was less decorative than H-4 because of its plain front, the lack of decoration on the face, and the absence of rubies or diamonds but it ran perfectly and with no jewels it was affordable to the
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Approximate Word count = 954
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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