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 This is one of those lovely little books you just
want to pick up and cuddle, but sadly the style outdoes the substance. It's an account of the struggle by John Harrison to 'discover the longitude', or, more correctly, to convince
everyone else that he had in fact discovered it already and to claim the £20,000 parliamentary prize.
You have to smile, in retrospect, at the 'advance praise' (a.k.a. shameless hype) for this book:
three independent 'gem's and one 'sexy', but sadly the initial wonder quickly wears off when we realise that Harrison's achievements, whilst unquestionably
significant, were more to do with the refinement of existing technology than with the creation of something new. I admit that I was completely unaware of the history of before reading the book, but although it's an
undemanding and mildly engaging read I found it disappointingly lacklustre. |
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