Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Why it’s on the list: The Newbery-winning fictionalised life of Nathaniel Bowditch, the Salem sailor who taught himself Latin and mathematics, found thousands of errors in the standard navigation tables, and published The New American Practical Navigator in 1802 — a self-education story that ends in a reference work still carried on US Navy ships.

Where I heard about it

• Replies to @moseskagan — named in the replies when he asked on X “What historical fiction should I read next? (Bonus points for something involving building or trade, rather than violence)”, April 2025. Full list: What historical fiction should I… (tweet).

Connections

• What historical fiction should I… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Open Source Knowledge — the portfolio idea this sits closest to: Bowditch’s corrections were published for everyone’s use.
• Historical Fiction — the genre the thread was asking about.