This was a quick read that merits at least a quick review. I started the book a month ago at the recommendation of my friend Barbara, and then had to shelve it as I read all that philosophy that's posted below, but post-class the catch-up was fairly brief.
Sobel chronicles a chronological development of a chronometric device that could tell time across an ocean (only for a book about clocks could you write such a sentence). She pulls in little historical details that add life and depth to John Harrison's obscure struggle to gain recognition and a 20,000-pound prize for his inventions.
I think one of the images that will stick with me from Sobel's book is her description of the first clock Harrison crafted, as a country carpenter in his teens:
"It is constructed almost entirely of wood. This is a carpenter's clock, with oak wheels and boxwood axles connected and impelled by small amounts of brass and steel. Harrison, ever practical and resourceful, took what materials came to hand, and handled them very well. The wooden teeth of the wheels never snapped off with normal wear but defied destruction by their design, which let them draw strength from the grain pattern of the mighty oak" (64).
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