"Dava Sobel's acclaimed history of how John Harrison took on the scientific establishment to solve the most pressing problem of his era inspired an entire genre of popular history writing, and brought deserved attention to one of the unsung heroes of science. For although Harrison received his prize money, at the insistence of King George III, it had taken him 40 years of unremitting toil, and numerous trials, controversies and arguments. The crowning injury was that his beloved chronometers were stored away and forgotten, while others manufactured affordable copies. In her new preface, Sobel mentions the beauty of the originals that "has ever won admiration from artists and scientists alike". It is their beauty that this new edition from The Folio Society emphasises, with glorious colour photographs and Harrison's original pen-and-ink drawings showing the clocks' intricate mechanisms and exquisite decoration."--Provided by the publisher.