Lewis and Clark

[ollypenrice]

Only very marginally astronomical, but this is a stunning read: https://www.amazon.com/Undaunted-Courage-Meriwether-Jefferson-American/dp/0684826976  

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose tells the remarkable tale of Lewis and Clark beautifully. This is history writing at its best, rigorous but human and capable of putting you right there in the moment or pulling back to see the historical perspective. The astronomy is navigational. It's been suggested elsewhere that Dava Sobel over-sells the impact of  Harrison's chronometers in the years after their introduction and that the lunar method went on to be used for some time, the watches proving only moderately reliable. This was so in the case of Lewis and Clark. While they did not reduce their lunar data while on the expedition they took all the notes which would allow the real experts to fix positions on their maps once they returned.

Very highly recommended.

Olly

[Peter Drew]

Olly, with your motoring interests I was expecting, from the title, that this was to be a historical comparison between Jim Clark and Lewis Hamilton! 

[ollypenrice]

13 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

Olly, with your motoring interests I was expecting, from the title, that this was to be a historical comparison between Jim Clark and Lewis Hamilton! 

Heheh, great as he is, Lewis Hamilton cannot be compared with Jim Clark! Hamilton, unlike Clark, thrives on hand to hand combat. Clark was a minimalist, doing very little behind the wheel but ensuring that the tiny bit he did was perfect. Under-driving versus over-driving. You'll get me chucked off my own thread, Peter, for not respecting the OP's subject matter!!

lly