Sextant

a voyage guided by the stars and the men who mapped the world's oceans

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David Barrie: Sextant (2014, William Collins)

348 pages

English language

Published Dec. 4, 2014 by William Collins.

ISBN:
978-0-00-751656-8
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OCLC Number:
873068986

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In the tradition of Dava Sobel's 'Longitude' comes sailing expert David Barrie's compelling and dramatic tale of invention and discovery - an eloquent elegy to one of the most important navigational instruments ever created, and the daring mariners who used it to explore, conquer, and map the world.

5 editions

Review of 'Sextant' on 'Goodreads'

The book was quite good, but not exactly what I expected. I expected more of a semi-technical introduction and history of sextants. What we got was a high level overview of their workings and a small history of their development. This was couched in a much larger overview of the great exploratory voyages of the 18th and 19th centuries where sextants were critical in their navigation.

And that was not bad, just not exactly what I was expecting.

Subjects

  • Travel
  • Navigation
  • History
  • Voyages around the world
  • Nautical astronomy
  • Sextant

Places

  • Atlantic Ocean