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Title: How Wanting to Get Home Safely Led to the Invention of Watches
Review: This was a Kindle recommendation that was also cheap, and I was looking for some vacation reading. So glad I did, as it was a fascinating history of the pursuit of determining longitude at sea. It's also got a lot to say about 18th and 19th century class issues (a common sailor hanged for daring to attempt to calculate longitude, and then having the temerity to tell officers their calculations were off; after they hanged the sailor they crashed their ships and lost 2,000 more men); astronomers' status relative to "mechanics," and international relations in the age of sailing ships.Four stars instead of five because it isn't illustrated. I sent the illustrated version to my brother for his birthday, though, and expect I'll eventually be able to borrow it!
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