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North Pole, South Pole
Why do compass needles point north—but not quite north? What guides the migration of birds, whales, and fish across the world’s oceans? How is Earth able to sustain life under an onslaught of solar wind and cosmic radiation? For centuries, the world’s great scientists have grappled with these questions, all rooted in the same phenomenon—Earth’s magnetism. Over 2,000 years after the invention of the compass, Einstein called the source of Earth’s magnetic field one of greatest unsolved mysteries of physics. Here, for the first time, is the complete history of the quest to understand Earth’s magnetism—from the ancient Greeks’ fascination with lodestone, to the geological discovery that the North Pole has not always been in the North—and to the astonishing modern conclusions that finally revealed the true source. Richly illustrated and skillfully told, North Pole, South Pole unfolds the human story behind the that of the inquisitive, persevering, and often dissenting thinkers who unlocked the secrets at our planet’s core. Categories Science & Nature Number of pages 288 Publication date January 11, 2011 ISBN 9781615191321
288 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 30, 2023
I’ve said it before, but I’m happy to repeat it: thank goodness for scientists! Furthermore, thank goodness for scientists who are also accomplished writers such that they can unravel, with what appears to be effortless ease, the knottiest of subjects into polished, lucid prose. Case in point: author Gillian Turner’s wonderfully accessible book, North Pole, South Pole: The Epic Quest to Solve the Great Mystery of Earth’s Magnetism. Undoubtedly, a grade-school education provides us with at least a passing flirtation with magnets, compasses, and gravity. But if one wishes to expand and solidify some of that nebulous, juvenile knowledge, then Ms. Turner’s book will handily do the job.
In barely 250 pages, she gathers, distills, and synthesizes 2000 years of key steps towards discovery and understanding of Earth’s magnetism. And Ms. Turner doesn’t forget the word “mystery” in her book title. There are times when North Pole, South Pole does, indeed, read like a thriller! One chapter will end with a satisfied sense of QED, and lo-and-behold, the next chapter will begin with another challenging aspect of the story and, of course, another clue. Along the way, readers are treated to a veritable who’s-who of scientists, some heavyweights we all might have heard of—Newton, Ampère, and Halley—and others, less famous, but just as critical to the story—Alexander von Humboldt, William Gilbert, and Fred Vine.
With each milestone of discovery, I found my eyes (possibly mouth) opening wider and wider at learning another new, absorbing item of information. For example, there is geomagnetic field reversal, whereby a reversal in the orientation of Earth’s magnetic field causes north and south poles to change position. Or the Chandler Wobble, “a small oscillation of Earth’s axis of rotation with respect to Earth’s surface, caused by the planet not being perfectly spherical.” By the time readers reach chapters on “Continents Adrift,” “The Story on the Sea Floor,” and “The Geodynamo,” their surprise reactions will be undiminished.
Having praised Ms. Turner’s writing, it’s inevitable that she often had no option but to say it “like it is.” For example, “By this method he was able to show that both the force of repulsion between like poles and the attractive force between unlike poles also decreased with the inverse of the square of the distance between their centers of action. Such instances were few and far between, and none were show-stoppers to continuing the story.
Debunking the notion that scientists are humorless, Ms. Turner’s wit surfaces frequently. When talking about the discovery of sunspots, for example, note her pun-ish humor with the words hot topic and eclipse: “With this discovery, the magnetism of the sun suddenly became a hot topic of research. For a time it would almost eclipse the problem of the Earth’s magnetic field.” Or, when using something as geographically massive as tectonic plates in the Earth’s crust as units of approximation: “If you move South America by about twenty-five degrees, it slips right into the big bend in the West African coastline, give or take a margin of continental shelf.”
Apart from Ms. Turner’s brilliant writing and the riveting subject, the book is replete with a generous number of illustrations that facilitate and enrich reader understanding. There is a useful and convenient glossary and a valuable bibliography that tempts further reading on this subject. All in all—and I hope the author will forgive me—she has written a cracking good nonfiction page-turner!
In barely 250 pages, she gathers, distills, and synthesizes 2000 years of key steps towards discovery and understanding of Earth’s magnetism. And Ms. Turner doesn’t forget the word “mystery” in her book title. There are times when North Pole, South Pole does, indeed, read like a thriller! One chapter will end with a satisfied sense of QED, and lo-and-behold, the next chapter will begin with another challenging aspect of the story and, of course, another clue. Along the way, readers are treated to a veritable who’s-who of scientists, some heavyweights we all might have heard of—Newton, Ampère, and Halley—and others, less famous, but just as critical to the story—Alexander von Humboldt, William Gilbert, and Fred Vine.
With each milestone of discovery, I found my eyes (possibly mouth) opening wider and wider at learning another new, absorbing item of information. For example, there is geomagnetic field reversal, whereby a reversal in the orientation of Earth’s magnetic field causes north and south poles to change position. Or the Chandler Wobble, “a small oscillation of Earth’s axis of rotation with respect to Earth’s surface, caused by the planet not being perfectly spherical.” By the time readers reach chapters on “Continents Adrift,” “The Story on the Sea Floor,” and “The Geodynamo,” their surprise reactions will be undiminished.
Having praised Ms. Turner’s writing, it’s inevitable that she often had no option but to say it “like it is.” For example, “By this method he was able to show that both the force of repulsion between like poles and the attractive force between unlike poles also decreased with the inverse of the square of the distance between their centers of action. Such instances were few and far between, and none were show-stoppers to continuing the story.
Debunking the notion that scientists are humorless, Ms. Turner’s wit surfaces frequently. When talking about the discovery of sunspots, for example, note her pun-ish humor with the words hot topic and eclipse: “With this discovery, the magnetism of the sun suddenly became a hot topic of research. For a time it would almost eclipse the problem of the Earth’s magnetic field.” Or, when using something as geographically massive as tectonic plates in the Earth’s crust as units of approximation: “If you move South America by about twenty-five degrees, it slips right into the big bend in the West African coastline, give or take a margin of continental shelf.”
Apart from Ms. Turner’s brilliant writing and the riveting subject, the book is replete with a generous number of illustrations that facilitate and enrich reader understanding. There is a useful and convenient glossary and a valuable bibliography that tempts further reading on this subject. All in all—and I hope the author will forgive me—she has written a cracking good nonfiction page-turner!
July 27, 2023
This reviewer knows precious little about geophysics, so will not be complaining, as others have, that this book was directed at a generalist audience. I will complain however about the back cover. I realize this is out of the control of the author, and the blame rests with the publisher, but it is a pet peeve of mine when cover descriptions do not match the contents of the book. Here the back cover questions how birds and other animals navigate by magnetism. . . yet the book does not deal with this topic at all, aside from a brief mention of the topic in the epilog. Nor should this book deal with that topic — so why mention it on the cover?
It felt overstated for me, in my supreme ignorance, for the book to claim that certain mysteries have been solved. Indeed, theories have been proposed and are evolving. Very little has been solved. At best, we might claim that the answers have been hinted at.
It felt overstated for me, in my supreme ignorance, for the book to claim that certain mysteries have been solved. Indeed, theories have been proposed and are evolving. Very little has been solved. At best, we might claim that the answers have been hinted at.
January 26, 2011
I really enjoy books about science, and particularly ones that give an historical perspective to our ongoing discovery of scientific knowledge.
On the subject of the Earth's magnetism, I have to say that I was almost totally ignorant. I know that the Earth has magnetic poles, but that was basically the extent of my knowledge, and I am ashamed to say that it had never occured to me to wonder why the Earth should be magnetic. I had no idea that the entire Earth is covered in a magnetic field that protects us from solar winds and cosmic ray particles. Without this protective magnetic field, the Earth would be an uninhabitable planet.
Gillian Turner is a British geophysicist, who works at Victoria University, Wellington (New Zealand). She describes this book as "the history of a scientific quest that has spanned several millenia." That quest was the drive to solve the problem of Earth's magnetism - why is the Earth magnetic? Is the magnetism generated internally or externally? And most puzzling of all, how is the magnetism sustained?
The journey to understand this problem begins in 900BC, with the Greek legend of the shepherd Magnes, who went out to tend his sheep the morning after an electrical storm and found that his iron-studded boots stuck to the rocks. This was the first type of magnetism that was identified by humans - the local magnetisation of rock that is rich in magnetite, an oxide of iron, after it has been struck by lightning. This rock is known as lodestone.
The interest in magnetisation really took off with the development of the compass and it's importance to ocean navigation. Why did the compass needle always point north, but not directly to the geographical north pole? Why did the variation between magnetic north and true north change from place to place across the globe? Why did the needle dip up and down at different degrees depending on latitude?
The quest to answer all these questions involved some of the greatest scientific minds, and intersected with scientific discoveries regarding the calculation of longitude, the discovery of electricity and the development of geology. Scientists playing a major role in this story include Halley, Gauss, Ampere, Faraday, Coulomb, Clerk Maxwell, and many more.
The final chapters in this quest for understanding are still to be written. Major breakthroughs in understanding the magnetism of the Earth have only become possible within the last 20 years. Prior to that, we did not have the supercomputers necessary to undertake the immense mathematical calculations needed to solve the equations that would explain the magnetic processes taking place within the Earth.
I have to admit that a lot of the science in this book was way over my head, but I still got a lot out of it. I learnt a huge amount and I really enjoyed reading about all the scientists involved in solving this puzzle, and as always I found myself totally fascinated by the way in which scientific knowledge grows and feeds off itself in a cascading domino effect.
The only thing I would have liked more of in this book would have been some discussion of the effects on life on Earth of such things as shifting magnetic polarities and the changing strength of the Earth's magnetic field. On the very last page Gillian Turner provides us with the tantalising information that in the past 200 years the Earth's magnetic field has dropped by 15% - an astonishing rate of change. What does this mean? If a weaker magnetic field means less protection from solar winds and cosmic rays, could this explain things like climate change and the hole in the ozone layer? I really wish there could have been some discussion of things like this, but perhaps this historical account is not the right place for issues like that. Maybe Gillian Turner will write another book that tackles these questions.
On the subject of the Earth's magnetism, I have to say that I was almost totally ignorant. I know that the Earth has magnetic poles, but that was basically the extent of my knowledge, and I am ashamed to say that it had never occured to me to wonder why the Earth should be magnetic. I had no idea that the entire Earth is covered in a magnetic field that protects us from solar winds and cosmic ray particles. Without this protective magnetic field, the Earth would be an uninhabitable planet.
Gillian Turner is a British geophysicist, who works at Victoria University, Wellington (New Zealand). She describes this book as "the history of a scientific quest that has spanned several millenia." That quest was the drive to solve the problem of Earth's magnetism - why is the Earth magnetic? Is the magnetism generated internally or externally? And most puzzling of all, how is the magnetism sustained?
The journey to understand this problem begins in 900BC, with the Greek legend of the shepherd Magnes, who went out to tend his sheep the morning after an electrical storm and found that his iron-studded boots stuck to the rocks. This was the first type of magnetism that was identified by humans - the local magnetisation of rock that is rich in magnetite, an oxide of iron, after it has been struck by lightning. This rock is known as lodestone.
The interest in magnetisation really took off with the development of the compass and it's importance to ocean navigation. Why did the compass needle always point north, but not directly to the geographical north pole? Why did the variation between magnetic north and true north change from place to place across the globe? Why did the needle dip up and down at different degrees depending on latitude?
The quest to answer all these questions involved some of the greatest scientific minds, and intersected with scientific discoveries regarding the calculation of longitude, the discovery of electricity and the development of geology. Scientists playing a major role in this story include Halley, Gauss, Ampere, Faraday, Coulomb, Clerk Maxwell, and many more.
The final chapters in this quest for understanding are still to be written. Major breakthroughs in understanding the magnetism of the Earth have only become possible within the last 20 years. Prior to that, we did not have the supercomputers necessary to undertake the immense mathematical calculations needed to solve the equations that would explain the magnetic processes taking place within the Earth.
I have to admit that a lot of the science in this book was way over my head, but I still got a lot out of it. I learnt a huge amount and I really enjoyed reading about all the scientists involved in solving this puzzle, and as always I found myself totally fascinated by the way in which scientific knowledge grows and feeds off itself in a cascading domino effect.
The only thing I would have liked more of in this book would have been some discussion of the effects on life on Earth of such things as shifting magnetic polarities and the changing strength of the Earth's magnetic field. On the very last page Gillian Turner provides us with the tantalising information that in the past 200 years the Earth's magnetic field has dropped by 15% - an astonishing rate of change. What does this mean? If a weaker magnetic field means less protection from solar winds and cosmic rays, could this explain things like climate change and the hole in the ozone layer? I really wish there could have been some discussion of things like this, but perhaps this historical account is not the right place for issues like that. Maybe Gillian Turner will write another book that tackles these questions.
September 29, 2019
A kind of book I love, which takes a body of knowledge that most of us experience as a bare statement of fact in our education - the Earth has a magnetic field that explains how compasses work and protects from radiation from outer space, and by the way it has flipped end for end multiple times in the distant past - and lays out a detailed history of how we learned about it and how much we have left to learn. Enlightening and entertaining.
March 3, 2024
The earth is a magnet. This book describes the history and elaboration of that idea, from the ancient discovery of lodestone (a naturally magnetic rock) and its development into a compass, to the discovery that the direction a compass points wanders (in 40 years the compass in London wandered from 7 degrees East to 15 degrees West of true North) and then the discovery that the poles switch places on an average of every 43,000 years. A precursor of the switch is a decrease in magnetic intensity. Magnetic intensity has decreased by 15% in the last 200 years.
February 20, 2019
Great example of interesting science and history combined into a compelling story.
April 25, 2024
Bust.
The approach here is too historiographical. I wanted to know what we know about Earth's magnetism, not the discoveries and errors over the centuries that led to our current understanding. I would have, rather, liked to have seen the topics broached in the epilogue as the themes of the book.
The approach here is too historiographical. I wanted to know what we know about Earth's magnetism, not the discoveries and errors over the centuries that led to our current understanding. I would have, rather, liked to have seen the topics broached in the epilogue as the themes of the book.
March 27, 2012
Although I knew most of the basic science regarding earth's magnetism from various other readings, this book tied everything together chronologically and in much more detail. In fact, after finishing it I added it to my History bookshelf as well as the Science shelf because it is so much about the various individuals that have contributed to our knowledge of magnetism since the beginning of the current epoch.
I struggled between whether to give it three or four stars. There are sections that were fascinating and deserved the higher rating but overall the book did not hook me as much as I would have liked. It's difficult to say why. At times some of the math or theoretical concepts were a little vague and, for me, could have used more explanation, examples or analogies. At other times it just moved a little slower than I would like.
Since plate tectonics is an area of special interest for me, I especially enjoyed the section on how the discovery of sea floor spreading and alternating bands of oppositely polarized rock contributed to the proof of the plate tectonic theory of continental drift.
I think if I were a student of geomagnetism looking for an overview of the history of the science I might have given the book the higher rating.
I struggled between whether to give it three or four stars. There are sections that were fascinating and deserved the higher rating but overall the book did not hook me as much as I would have liked. It's difficult to say why. At times some of the math or theoretical concepts were a little vague and, for me, could have used more explanation, examples or analogies. At other times it just moved a little slower than I would like.
Since plate tectonics is an area of special interest for me, I especially enjoyed the section on how the discovery of sea floor spreading and alternating bands of oppositely polarized rock contributed to the proof of the plate tectonic theory of continental drift.
I think if I were a student of geomagnetism looking for an overview of the history of the science I might have given the book the higher rating.
December 24, 2018
Very good, could've been great.
This rather exhaustive review of the study of planetary magnetism is scholarly and worth reading. It contains just over 20% tables definitions and cast of characters lists, that are largely unneeded. The author does a more than adequate job of describing and introducing all elements within the text. For me it is just fluff used to plump up the book to a more respectable size. The author's passion for the subject is very apparent but is in some ways given less impact than a different editor may have been able to draw out. The subject is interesting, the science still somewhat incomplete, the scientists involved are complicated characters in their own rights.
I paid full retail for this book and feel well compensated for my toils to earn the opportunity to read it. I have and will recommend this book to many curious friends and acquaintances.
This rather exhaustive review of the study of planetary magnetism is scholarly and worth reading. It contains just over 20% tables definitions and cast of characters lists, that are largely unneeded. The author does a more than adequate job of describing and introducing all elements within the text. For me it is just fluff used to plump up the book to a more respectable size. The author's passion for the subject is very apparent but is in some ways given less impact than a different editor may have been able to draw out. The subject is interesting, the science still somewhat incomplete, the scientists involved are complicated characters in their own rights.
I paid full retail for this book and feel well compensated for my toils to earn the opportunity to read it. I have and will recommend this book to many curious friends and acquaintances.
October 17, 2022
History of science from the initial discovery of magnetic rocks, leading through Farraday/Maxwell's work and eventually the "paleogeomagnetic" discoveries of the mid-20th century. Had no idea how much research on Earth's magnetic field influenced tectonic theory.
How much enjoyment one will derive from this book is related to tolerance for sentences like "Their computer model had demonstrated that a magnetohydrodynamic dynamo that obeyed Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism and Navier and Stokes' equations of fluid dynamics could generate an Earthlike magnetic field."
How much enjoyment one will derive from this book is related to tolerance for sentences like "Their computer model had demonstrated that a magnetohydrodynamic dynamo that obeyed Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism and Navier and Stokes' equations of fluid dynamics could generate an Earthlike magnetic field."
October 5, 2019
The subtitle “Epic Quest” misled me to expect more adventure and less mathematics. I found some of the chapters difficult to comprehend as a general science reader. The part I enjoyed most was about the early scientists and the beginnings of the Royal Society of London in 1660. There are excellent illustrations throughout, which helped with some of the concepts that were new to me.
April 10, 2021
Despite the title, this really more lays out how the Earth was found to have a magnetic field, starting with the basic first principles and working up to the discoveries around geomagnetism in the 1950s and 1960s. The main problem is... after reading this, I can't really tell you how the Earth generates a magnetic field. I have a rough idea, and know some of the history, but I probably couldn't adequate explain it. Certainly of interest, especially for those curious about geology or scientific history, but could be better.
January 8, 2019
I wish I wrote this
Fantastic insightful rewarding accurate description of a fundamental part of life on earth. It illustrates the life and importance of science like no other book.
Fantastic insightful rewarding accurate description of a fundamental part of life on earth. It illustrates the life and importance of science like no other book.
February 10, 2019
Mostly had to lower stars because I did not understand so much of the physics and stuff. I was hoping for a little bit less academic and a little more popular science. I really enjoyed the historical side of it.
July 24, 2024
So much we’ve learned yet still much eludes us. Besides the obvious, magnetism, book shows the necessary competition/cooperation that makes science the best way to find natural phenomenon. Groovy read.
September 4, 2019
This book was interesting but at times became a little overly technical at times. I had a difficult time keeping straight the difference between inclination and declination for example.
January 27, 2023
I never knew there was so much background to magnetism and the poles. I listened to the audio book.
March 10, 2023
Overall: really interesting and educational. Lots of famous physics-related individuals played a role in this development. 4 for some uneven pacing, but just a minor affect.
July 16, 2023
Turner follows the men who work to unravel the mysteries of Earth's magnetic field from Ancient Greek shepherds to 21st-century scientists with supercomputers. Fascinating and informative.
July 20, 2023
Some parts were very interesting, but others a little too technical for me.
July 5, 2025
Nice book with nice overview of the history of geophysics
June 11, 2013
This book was quite an interesting read for me. Generally, a subject like magnetism is split between various publications, classes, and other sources, and only pieces of the story are discovered. I enjoyed being able to follow the research of magnetism through time, and reading about the various scientists that contributed to our knowledge on the subject. It also took me back to the days of my historical geology in following the development of geology as a science. It is amazing how recent theories like plate tectonics and pole reversal are in the history of science.
Pros: Well-written especially for a science book (not dry), well organized, comprehensive, chalk-full of interesting history
Cons: Likely a bit much for folks lacking in a science and/science history background, pictures and figures may not always be the most appropriate item to include
Pros: Well-written especially for a science book (not dry), well organized, comprehensive, chalk-full of interesting history
Cons: Likely a bit much for folks lacking in a science and/science history background, pictures and figures may not always be the most appropriate item to include
August 31, 2014
I got almost nothing out of this book but I'm not quite sure it's the fault of the author. It took me around four months to finally finish because I started it right before summer classes started and read maybe a page or two before passing out each night, finally able to polish it off when classes were over. There are a lot of theories/terminology here that I didn't remember reading it in the piecemeal way that I did. It also required the ability to visualize experiments, theories, etc. and I am basically incapable of visualizing as I read - so personally, I needed more graphics and images to understand what she was talking about. But probably for someone who can visualize, this wouldn't necessarily be a problem.
January 9, 2014
If you are curious about the origin of the magnetic field of the earth, this is a pretty good place to start. Turner goes through the history of discovery, the basic physical ideas involved, and our evolving understanding of what turns out to be an extraordinary complicated phenomenon. This is another place which demonstrates that as much as we know about the world, we actually know a lot less than I'd like to think. For instance, when exactly are the poles going to turn? What happens when the magnetic field is a tenth of its normal size? Questions that are fairly important for our health and wellbeing, yet there are no clear answers.
September 6, 2011
This book didn't quite live up to my expectations so I ended up skimming a good chunk of it. Overall, it just felt like reading a really long Wikipedia entry: comprehensive yet condensed list of facts. I personally would have appreciated more presence from the author such as in Brian Greene or Bill Bryson's writing. The later chapters were more engaging as those covered topics that were closer to the author's own research era. In the end this is more of a history book than a book about the underlying science. Somehow a great topic and a great title just ended up as an average book.
October 7, 2012
Very detailed explanation of the history of the attempts to describe the physical forces that create the Earth's magnetic field. Interesting parallel while reading is the detailed explanations of the tools and techniques developed to help in the effort. Recommend this for anyone interested in Geology, Geodesy, Geography and Cartography.
April 8, 2013
A workmanlike accounting of the history of the science of magnetism. The early chapters are interesting and insightful but unfortunately the last chapters are sometimes unintelligible.
July 14, 2014
This book should be dedicated to all people who still believe that Climate Change is not real.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews