“We can’t have freedom unless we have freedom. And that means freedom to speak our minds.”― Jean Lee Latham, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
My husband has fond memories of this book as a child but I was not familiar with it until he recommended it. I read it to our sons and it became a favorite for each of them and helped them develop an interest in math. It is also a Newberry Award winner.
This book is the biography of Nat Bowditch, the smallest member of his sea-faring family. He was bright and especially gifted in mathematics. He dreamed of attending Harvard University but family finances made that impossible and he was indentured into service at a chandlery. During the nine years of his service, he continued his education by teaching himself trigonometry, calculus, Latin, and French. After his service ended, he became a surveyor and later an officer and supercargo on merchant ships. He realized that many of the references available to navigators contained numerous errors and that compelled him to write a new navigational book, which became the sailors’ bible and is still used today. Nat Bowditch was a young man when he wrote The American Practical Navigator and his life story is an inspiration. This is a fascinating story for children and adults and reinforces the belief that the best stories are the true ones.
Content Warning: