Compass

Compass is a meandering story about a lot of people that have had something to do with the compass. Brits get the most attention here, with quality engineers as well as the politically connected getting their space. A long time ago, compasses were simple needles in water. Then things "advanced" to card-based compasses, only to come back to the floating needles. (I had not realized how inaccurate compasses could be - and that the variation tends to differ greatly based on location. )

The book seems to spend a lot of time on topics that had abundant information, with plenty of random attempts at wit and political bits. There is some interesting material in here, though it could use a good deal of editing to get down to a coherent book.