Synopses & Reviews
Sometimes it pays to be in the right place at the right time. Certainly the mariners in Amalfi in the twelfth century were. Here the compass was first invented and used in navigation, eventually helping to make Italians the world's greatest sailors.
But the story of the compass is shrouded in mystery and myth. It begins in ancient China around the birth of Christ. A mysterious lodestone whose powers affected metal was known to the Emperor. This piece of metal suspended in water always pointed north and was put to excellent use in feng shui, the Chinese art of finding the right location. However, it was the Italians who unleashed the compass's formidable powers on ships at sea.
Throughout the ancient world, sailors navigated by wind, and stars, and the routes of migrating birds, but bad weather and winter storms impeded their travels. When the compass migrated to Italy, the modern world began: Venice, trade with the East, the Age of Discovery. The compass made it all possible, and this is its fascinating story.
Review
Praise for
Fermat's Last TheoremThis is a captivating volume. Equally important is the sense of awe that Mr. Aczel imparts for the hidden, mystical harmonies of numbers, and for that sense of awe alone, his slender volume is well worth the effort."-The New York Times
While avoiding technical details, Aczel maps the strange, beautiful byways of modern mathematical thought in ways the layperson can grasp."-Publishers Weekly
For more than three centuries, Fermat's Last Theorem was the most famous unsolved problem in mathematics; here's the story of how it was solved."-Kirkus Reviews
Review
PRAISE FOR
THE RIDDLE OF THE COMPASS"An uncommonly good book about an invention that--there's just no getting around it--changed the world."--Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
"A compulsively readable investigation, as attracting as the magnetic north."--Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Bestselling science writer Amir Aczel uncovers the fascinating story of the invention of the compass and its impact on the world.
Synopsis
The story of the compass is shrouded in mystery and myth, yet most will agree it begins around the time of the birth of Christ in ancient China. A mysterious lodestone whose powers affected metal was known to the Chinese emperor. When this piece of metal was suspended in water, it always pointed north. This unexplainable occurrence led to the stone's use in feng shui, the Chinese art of finding the right location. However, it was the Italians, more than a thousand years later, who discovered the ultimate destiny of the lodestone and unleashed its formidable powers. In Amalfi sometime in the twelfth century, the compass was born, crowning the Italians as the new rulers of the seas and heralding the onset of the modern world. Retracing the roots of the compass and sharing the fascinating story of navigation through the ages,
The Riddle of the Compass is Aczel at his most entertaining and insightful.
About the Author
Amir D. Aczel, Ph.D., science writer par excellence, grew up on a ship and was navigating straits in the Mediterranean long before he could drive a car. The author of Fermat's Last Theorem, God's Equation, and Probability 1, he lives with his wife and daughter in the Boston area and teaches at Bentley College.