The publication of Longitude in 1995 -- and its unexpected success -- transformed me into a full-time author of books. I greatly enjoy the more in-depth research required for book-length projects. Someone once said to me, "I would hate your job. It's like writing one college term paper after another." That's exactly what it's like, and exactly what I love best about it. People may have the impression that book tours and public appearances are the most exciting times in an author's life. I certainly enjoy those events, and am flattered both by my publishers' willingness to send me on tour and readers' eagerness to come hear me. But writing is really about sitting alone in a room, and the highlights occur in that room, with no one else as witness, in the small moments of the day when the work goes well. I experienced some of the most memorable such moments during the years spent on Galileo's Daughter, especially in winter, when the early morning hours (my best work time) were dark, and I could enter my office half-believing it was Suor Maria Celeste's Convent of San Matteo in Arcetri. I am extremely gratified by the warm reception my books have received—not just in terms of good reviews or ratings on bestseller lists, but also actual events that followed their publication. Longitude helped place a memorial to John Harrison in Westminster Abbey, unveiled by Prince Philip on March 24, 2006 (Harrison's 313th birthday, and also the 230th anniversary of his death). Astronomers ...
