Sea Clocks : The Story of Longitude

Rating:
Summary: An engaging picture book about solving a real world problem
Review: Louise Borden's Sea Clocks: The Story Of Longitude is a picture book rendition of a troubling problem for sailors in the 1700's and before - although they could measure their latitude, they could not calculate their longitude, and therefore did not know exactly where they were on the waves. Many lives were lost at sea because of this. The solution to the problem would be to devise a clock that would keep accurate time at sea, regardless of water or weather conditions. Many struggled to create such a timekeeper; Sea Clocks follows the work of mechanical genius John Harrison (1693-1776), who labored tirelessly to make a viable sea clock a reality. Black-and-white and some sketchy color illustrations by Erik Blegvad nicely illuminate this engaging picture book about solving a real world problem.