Dava Sobel writes narrative non-fiction about astronomy, scientific discovery and the people whose work changed how the universe is measured and understood. Longitude tells the story of John Harrison and the eighteenth-century problem of determining longitude at sea, showing how precision clocks competed with astronomical methods in the search for a reliable solution. Galileo's Daughter draws on surviving letters from Galileo's daughter Maria Celeste to place his scientific work, family life and conflict with the Catholic Church within a more personal context. The Planets combines science, history and cultural associations in individual chapters devoted to the Solar System, while The Glass Universe follows women at the Harvard College Observatory who classified stars and developed important astronomical methods. Sobel writes for general readers, using biography and historical narrative rather than technical mathematics. Longitude is the most compact introduction to her approach; The Glass Universe suits readers interested in the overlooked labour behind major scientific advances. Read more Less
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