Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius who Solved ht Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

Navigation is so easy today (well, except for the directionally challenged, like me, who have an unfailing ability to make the wrong turn). 400 years ago, as commercial fleets began their exploratory voyages, sailors had to depend on the stars and luck, and the further south you were, the more a miscalculation in latitude would send you from your destination.  Dava Sobol's slim but engrossing book tells how a clockmaker (his previous major project - still working four centuries later - was a wooden clock) not only developed a way to determine longitude but also a clock that neither gained nor lost time and was not disturbed by harsh weather or the swells of the sea.  His invention was a success, but full recognition (and the full cash prize from the Longitude Committee) eluded him, thanks to one of the pettier scientific disputes of history.