5. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel

I really enjoyed this charming little book.  The title says it all, I have little to add.  It's set mostly in the 1700s. It does confirm my rather cynical outlook on many persons with political power. Very readable, it tells the story of people and is not too technical. There is a nice introduction by Neil Armstrong.

I think I must have chosen it off my out of control above the bookshelf stacks as an antidote to the last book I read, about the vapid New Yorkers. The sticker indicates I bought this book at the used bookstore. My book group read this same author's book about Galileo's daughter a while back. I believe there was a PBS documentary on the history of finding longitude, and I might see if that is still out there somewhere. It appears the book was originally published in 1996. I remember that it was well thought of at the time, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.