Customer Reviews

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch contains absolutely fascinating background information about Salem and navigation in the 1700s, providing a valuable context for Nathaniel Bowditch's contributions to maritime navigation and allowing the reader to more fully understand just how remarkable and important they were.

It is quite inspiring to read how Nathaniel Bowditch, who experienced many traumatic events in his youth and childhood, made such a meaningful - albeit a bit obscure today - contribution to mankind by rewriting the book on Maritime navigation. While he had excellent intelligence, he did not have much luck in his early years, and his accomplishments are largely due to his dogmatic perseverence to educate himself against all odds.

My favorite parts of the book described his ocean voyages - how he solved various problems of navigation and how he won the allegiance of the motley crew of every ship he sailed on.

My children are not old enough yet for this story, but I look forward to the day they are.

This story is an incredible true tale of a simple young boy who is forced into an apprenticeship by his father. Rather than letting his new life depress him, he began the process of educating himself. He found he had a talent for math and navigation, and became a famous navigator at sea. I could not put this story down, even though it was written a long time ago and is a historical novel.

Jean Latham's 1955 Newbery award winner is an easy-to-read fictionalized biography of the early life and career of Nathanial Bowditch of Salem. Set in a proud Massachusetts sailing village and on the high seas, the story rolls along like a Yankee trader: now billowing ahead, now becalmed, now swamped yet often riding triumphant swells with exotic cargo. How a youth denied a Harvard education literally rewrote the book on 18th century navigation, thus making the ocean safer for all sailors.

Since the storyline must obey the facts, the author operates under some literary constraint. The stout-hearted protagonist suffers repeated family losses, yet he clings to his ideal of an accurate book, which captains can trust and will save lives the world over. While indentured in a ship's chandlery, Nat cherishes his dreams of higher education, teaching himself mathematics, astronomy, navigation and three languages.

Nat's genius for detail and swift mental calculations of figures make him a wonder in an age when most sailors relied on gut instincts (Lead, Log and Lookout,)for the common man clung to his inbred superstitions, rejecting fancy book learning from mere lubbers. It took a Yankee youth to identify the fatal errors in Moore's sacred charts. Young readers will appreciate Latham's extensive dialogue and the excellent b/w sketches by John Cosgrave. Read as Biography or Maritime History, this book breezes along like a trim Yankee clipper.

I first read this beautifully and simply written book when I was about ten and it immediately became my favorite. I identified with Nathaniel Bowditch in many respects - my name is also Nathaniel and I also love math - but still he amazed me with his intense desire to learn and persevere through struggles.

I learned alot from this story. I was fascinated by Nathaniel Bowditch's amazing brilliance (writing an almanac as a teenager and doing insanely complex math problems in his head), his hard work (studying multiple languages from books), and his humility (teaching sailors math and navigation, giving them confidence in themselves). Amazingly, he did all this though his life was full of struggles. For me, someone who already liked to learn, this story powerfully reinforced just how exciting and valuable it is to gain more knowledge and then pass it on.

Today, about 10 years since I first read this book, I still love to read it. The title of "favorite book" has since passed on, but something still excites me about the impact one man can have because he dedicated himself to learning and to helping others through what he learned. That's a message young people, especially those already excited about learning, need to hear. And that's why those kids need to read this book.

As a small country strives for her freedom, a small boy also fights to be free. And as that country grows into the powerful United States, the boy grows also.

Nathaniel Bowditch- a small boy in a poor family who has a history of mariners, with a curiosity and a love for math. Nat's dream is to enter Harvard and get a degree. However, that dream is cut short when his father sends him to be apprenticed to a bookkeeper because he cannot support Nat. Even this apprenticeship cannot stop Nat from learning. Using his position to his advantage, he uses the books around him whenever he has time. He comes across Newton's "Principia" He discovers, chagrined, that it is written in Latin, which he cannot comprehend. He tackles this problem by using his memory of the Bible and comparing it with a bible written in Latin. As he slowly but surely translates Principia, he develops a love for languages.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is a book that inspires us to never give up our dreams no matter how bad our situation is. Anyone interested in astronomy, math, navigation, or ships in general will most likely love this book.

Carry On Mr. Bowditch is an exciting historical fiction book that is filled with adventure and discovery. The story is about a boy who is the fourth child of six children who grows up to be a math genius. The names of the six children, oldest to youngest, are Mary, Hab, Lizza, Nat, William, and Sammy. They all live in Salem, MA with their mother, father, and grandmother. I think that the author, Mrs. Lathem, was trying to tell us that even a genius can have some emotional times too. What I liked about this book is that it seemed as if Nat took me aboard his ship to different lands and to adventure in learning. I recommend it!

If you like great adventure and historical fiction get this book now! It is about a boy named Nat Bowditch. He is a boy whose family is poor with many kids to feed. Nat is interested in learning and school. He grows up to be a very smart mathematician. Also he is very good at navigation. Nat becomes a captain and he has to sail to very treacherous destinations. Along with his crew they have to face fog, no wind, and bad, bad weather. I would not recommend this to people who don't like when people die in the story. This book is an absolute good book to buy. Something exciting or sad is happening on every page. I'm not into reading much but this book made me want to read it.

Nathaniel Bowditch is incredibly intelligent. In school he did problems on his second day that even the most advanced students couldn't do. When he was very young his mother passed away, followed by his grandmother three months later. When he was twelve he was signed up as an apprentice by his father. As an apprentice he was not allowed to go anywhere unless he was given permission. He learned all about book keeping and navigation, and his intelligence rose. When he was released nine years later, he was given a job as bookkeeper and second mate on a ship. He ended up rewriting "Moore's Navigating Guide" because it had thousands of fatal mistakes, which had cost the lives of numerous sailors. He was eventually promoted to first mate and eventually became captain of his own ship. He also had taught the sailors on most of his ships navigating, and discovered an easier way to use navigating devices. Carry on, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham is a great book about how determination can get you anywhere.
This book was good because it had a human side. Nat was sad when his Mom died. Nat also got caught up in work often, and sometimes this would help him to take his minds off things. No matter how hard things got for Nat, whether humiliation or distress he kept on going which made him seem very human. Also in the book you could see how they impacted him because this book told his entire life and he would reflect on the things he had done later on in the book.
I liked this book because it told Nat's whole life. In this book you really got to see how he matured while he was at sea, or with his marriages. You got to grow up with him and that made it seem really personal. You saw him go from a child to a young adult, and a young adult into a man. It made the book a lot more interesting than the books about certain events.
This book was interesting because Nathaniel achieved so much. When I was finished with the book I felt proud of him. He had sailed into Manila harbor as the first man from Salem to do so. He had corrected numerous mistakes in the prominent sailing manual of the time. Nat discovered a new, faster, and more efficient way to work lunars. He taught sailors how to do everything he knew how to do, and many sailors became second mates, first mates, or captains of their own ships. Nat popularized book sailing, or sailing using graphs and tables which was thought to be very dangerous before then.
This book was great because it had a lot of action. Whether sailing though a storm or struggling through the loss of a family member, this book kept me on the edge of my seat. Nat's life was filled with achievements (plus some bumpy roads), and it was exciting o watch his purpose in life fall into plan. This was just an overall great and exciting book.


G. Bennett

I remember my mom made me read this story when I was homeschooled. Carry on Mr Bowditch was a book that I actully enjoyed reading when I was homeschooled. Mr Bowditch is an inspiration. He had the attitude that he could do anything he could put his mind too.

I recently saw this book on sale at the library and immediatly snatched it up. I read it for the second time. Which is something I rarely do.
And I told my mom that I wish I had the determination that this kid had.

I gave this book 4 stars because this book became depressing at times. His mother died, his grandmother, his father(I am assuming died because he was never mentioned after awhile), his sister, his brother in law his two brothers and his first wife.

So you see all this death is in the book. But this is a nice book and I enjoyed it.

It is an amazing book because I do not like reading books, but this book I wanted to read in my spare time and all the other books seemed boring.

Nat Bowditch was a mathematician and a sailor. He went on many ships and lasted through many storms.