NationalGeographic.com columnist Alaina Levine posted a piece today about The Day the World Discovered the Sun. Her takeaway:

“Today, while people across the Earth experience the transit, it’s important to remember that lovely Venus is not only important to us girls. In fact, in the 1700s, its transit helped sailors, scientists and kings understand our place in the solar system. The story of how this transpired is brought to light in a clever and very entertaining book called The Day the World Discovered the Sun, by Mark Anderson. People risked life and limb to crack the problem of longitude, the author shared with me, and the transit of Venus was “the crucial key to worldwide navigation.”  His book is an adventure tale, a story of human “drive and endurance” with voyages to the poles and everywhere in between to unlock a scientific mystery. Check it out!”