"It's Simple Mathematics"

#34 - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham
Finished 6/19/07
Rating: 5/5
Total Pages: 251
Reason for Reading: Newbery Challenge
REVIEW: I loved this book about the life and times of Nathaniel Bowditch, a mathematical wizard as a boy who became a navigating genius. The setting is the turn of the 19th century, and the story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, and on the high seas. I greatly enjoyed the descriptions of how to sail by the stars, how to use a sextant, and how to calculate latitude and longitude long before the advent of modern-day instruments. It gave me new appreciation for the difficulties involved in navigating sailing ships and the ins and outs of the high seas trading industry. I loved the book now, and I would have greatly loved it as a teen as well. It was books like this in my early years that fuelled my love of adventure and my belief that anything is possible, if only you want it enough and are prepared to do what it takes. I now have an unexplainable urge to watch Master and Commander. LOL! Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t read this as a teen. Who knows what line of work I might be in now if I had? *grin* Storytelling at its finest. Highly recommended.

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Sadly, Nattie, the host for the Newbery Challenge, was unsuccessful in her battle against the cancer that took her life on June 7. It is my intention to complete this challenge in her honour. My deepest sympathies to her family, especially her son Jonathan, age 9, and her daughter Anna, age 6.

Listening to: Iapetus (Enya)