John Harrison
John Harrison
John Harrisonwas a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. His solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000under the 1714 Longitude Act. Harrison came 39th in the BBC's 2002 public poll of...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionInventor
Date of Birth24 March 1693
World-building numbs the reader's ability to fulfill their part of the bargain because it believes that it has to do everything around here if anything is going to get done. Above all, world-building is not technically necessary. It is the great clomping foot of nerdism. It is the attempt to exhaustively survey a place that isn't there.
As a sailor it was very important to me, and it reinforces a sense of place.
Satisfying every vision that fans have is probably impossible.
It makes you feel special. It's pretty neat that he would pick us out of a crowd.
Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over world-building.
We started out when our two boys were early teenagers and we wanted to show them the country. I guess we've been in every state of the Union except Hawaii and Alaska.