Hidden Attraction: The Mystery and History of Magnetism

by Gerrit L. Verschuur

Book Overview

Long one of nature's most fascinating phenomena, magnetism was once the subject of many superstitions. Magnets were thought useful to thieves, effective as a love potion or as a cure for gout or spasms. They could remove sorcery from women and put demons to flight and even reconcile married couples. It was said that a lodestone pickled in the salt of sucking fish had the power to attract gold. Today, these beliefs have been put aside, but magnetism...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195106555
• ISBN13: 9780195106558
• Release Date: April 1996
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great Mystery!!

This is a most interesting read about lodestones and magnetism as told through an all inclusive historical record encompassing the evolvement of our understanding of what magnetism is. Gerrit L. Herschuur takes the reader on a dramatic discovery of everything there is or ever was to know about magnetism, from it's being a mystical lodestone with superstition as a basis of understanding, to the degree of sophisticated knowledge we have today. He has a natural talent for keeping the reader as intrigued as if he/she were holding a best selling mystery novel! The best part is, this is a non-fictional true life natural mystery and you won't be able to put this book down until you've finished it. Herschuur reveals every mystery contained within and about magnetism, all the stuff you ever wanted to know about it, but didn't know who to ask!

Well written history of a fascinating topic

Hidden Attraction is a fascinating account of the study of the quite baffling phenomenon of magnetism across approximately five centuries. Verschuur constructs a smooth transition from one discoverer/pioneer to the next, allowing the reader to follow in the footsteps of the various figures discussed. This is no boring catalog of scientists listing piecemeal contributions to the field; I personally found the book to be a page-turner. Hidden Attraction does not leave you feeling as if you could recite the names of historical figures--rather it gives you the sensation of having looked over their shoulders as they made their discoveries. Some of the scientists discussed, just to name a few, are Volta, Faraday, Hertz and Ampere.Verschuur gives enough depth of the subject matter to keep the interest of the scientifically-minded, unlike other books on the history of science which spread the accounts of real achievements sparingly over a wasteland of historical details and background. At the same time, Verschuur includes enough background and biographical info to give the reader a sense of who each figure was both as a scientist and as a person.Those without a strong foundation in physics may get lost in the last chapter or two--I am one of those. This, however, did not detract from the overall readability of the book.Hidden Attraction is well worth reading for anyone who is interested in the history of science and who is excited by great scientific achievements.