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Title: The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention That Changed the World by Amir D. Aczel ISBN: 0-15-100506-0 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 16 August, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.76 (41 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating Tale About The Riddle & Compass History
Comment: The reviews of this book go from one extreme to the other- are you confused about reading this book? As one reviewer suggested to the naysayers- lighten-up! I agree. This book is well presented and covers far more than the "riddle" of who invented the navigational compass, although that alone is worth the read.
The history of the compass starting with the ancient Chinese discovery of the magnetic qualities of lodestone and applying that knowledge to construct a land use compass, then following the invention around the world and over centuries until it was discovered to be useful for sea navigation and it's design perfection as it traveled from one country to the next up to contemporary times, is also worth the read.
Aczel's treatment of this subject includes his account as a young man and his own time spent in the pilot house of ocean liners learning navigation from his seafaring father and captain. He learned the importance of a compass as a navigation aid and this was a great prelude to writing with hands-on knowledge.
Some of the naysayers have attempted to dilute the importance of the compass as a navigational aid- hah! Like Aczel, I too, have spent much time on the ocean and for those that think sailing without a compass is no big thing, consider the older tools of navigation, i.e., guiding by the stars, etc. What do you guide by with during cloudy skies, turbulent seas and no land in sight for weeks or months on end? The compass is unaffected by those conditions and it also lead to accurate, cross-ocean, long distance mapping of the entire world. And they said that's no big thing???? Landlubbers- sheesh!
After finishing this book, I read "The Compass" by Paula Z. Hogan, 1980. Although it was writen for children 9-12, it is a great read for all ages, very informative and at only 60 pages long plus illustrations and experiments, packs more relevant compass info than any book I've read and is great companion to Aczel's book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Right on Course!
Comment: This was a great read! It was as pleasurable as sailing on a smooth blue sea. Aczel did a very nice job presenting the history of the compass, in perfect chronological order, from ancient China, through the Middle East, to Italy and then northern Europe.
The book takes the reader on a magical journey from the emperors of ancient China with their infatuation with the magnetic needle, through the travels of Marco Polo, to the medieval city of Amalfi in southern Italy, where the European invention of the boxed compass used in navigation took place.
This is a fast-paced and very informative page-turner that after a satisfying and complete discussion of how the compass was invented takes the reader to Venice to show how the invention was exploited to improve trade and increase wealth. Finally, there is a wonderful concluding description of the Great Age of Exploration--and how the compass brought it about.
Rating: 5
Summary: Short and yet comprehensive and fascinating book
Comment: This book is short and reads fast, but it covers its topic--how the compass came about and how navigation was changed by its use--very well. It talks about how navigation worked before the compass (dispelling the myth that ships hugged the coastline to avoid getting lost). It looks worldwide for evidence of magnets used for direction finding throughout history, not always for use in navigation. All in all, a fun and informative book.
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Title: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel ISBN: 0140258795 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Map That Changed the World : William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology by Simon Winchester ISBN: 0060931809 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Pendulum : Leon Foucault and the Triumph of Science by Amir D. Aczel ISBN: 0743464788 Publisher: Atria Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: God's Equation : Einstein, Relativity, and the Expanding Universe by AMIR D. ACZEL ISBN: 0385334850 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 28 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Illustrated Longitude by Dava Sobel, William J. H. Andrewes ISBN: 0802775934 Publisher: Walker & Co Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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