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FROM THE SHARED SHELF · 2006–2026 SAMPLE

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

Dava Sobel

3 readers recommend it across 2 discussions

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THE WORD OF MOUTH

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Original Hacker News comments, in the readers’ own words.

mikewarot
I found Herbert Hoover's translation of De Re Metallica[1] to be fascinating. A compendium of the technology of the day for processing most metals. I also found Longitude[2]: "The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" to be an interesting account of the solving of the problem of nautical timekeeping. I second the nomination of Simon Winchester's book "The Perfectionists" [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_re_metallica [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_%28book%29