Sobel, Dava.
Longitude (The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time).
Walker and Company.
1995.

In this book Dava Sobel writes a fascinating story of John Harrison, a man of simple birth with no formal education or training in watchmaking, who was able to perfect a chronometer which allowed men of the sea to determine longitude. Larcum Kendall copied Harrison's chronometer, and it was carried by Cook on his second and third expeditions. He also took with him three additional chronometers made by John Arnold. The Longitude Act of 1714, issued in the reign of Queen Anne, provided prize money for the person who could invent a way to determine longitude.

Dava Sobel's book will delight CCSU members with the history of John Harrison's forty-year quest for the coveted prize.
 

John Dusel

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 1308, volume 19, number 3 (1996).