Riddle of the Compass cover art

Riddle of the Compass

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Riddle of the Compass

By: Amir D. Aczel
Narrated by: Henry Levya
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About this listen

 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.Executive Producer: Jacob Bronstein
Producer: John Wager
Produced by arrangement with Harcourt, Inc.
Original Jacket Photographs by (top) Kim Westerskov/Stone and Barry Marcus/FPG International
Original Jacket Design by Claudine Guerguerian
Author photograph by Debra Gross Aczel
©2001 by Amir Aczel
(P)2001 Random House, Inc. Earth Sciences History History & Culture Physics Science World Thought-Provoking
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The author does not seem to be able to gather enough information about compasses to fill this book. He has therefore found it necessary to pad out this poorly written work with early maratime history which has little or nothing to do with the implement in question.

In it's defence, I do know more about the history of compasses than I did before I read it, but I cannot see what the riddle is. I think the author is referring to the fact that noone knows who originally discovered the 'compass' as we know it, but as far as I can see it is an object that, like the wheel, has evolved over many, many years from basic origins to the sophisticated tool we use today, with no single inventor.

There is no riddle to this book.

As poor as his book 'Entanglement'

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