Riddle of the Compass: The Invention that Changed the World
by Aczel, Amie D.
pub by Harcourt, NY, 2001 - - - isbn 0-15-100506-0 - LCCN 00--47153 -- Preface p. xi-xvii -- A Note on Sources p. 161-163 -- References p.165-168 -- Acknowledgements p. 169-170 -- Index p 171-178 -- Total 178 pages.
chapters
Odyssey - 1
Signs of the Sea and Sky - 9
Dante - 29
The Etruscan Chandelier - 39
Amalfi - 53
The Ghost of Flavio Gioia - 63
Iron Fish, Lodestone Turtle - 77
Venice - 91
Marco Polo - 111
Charting the Mediterranean - 123
A Nautical Revolution - 133
Conclusion - 153
This book is a breezy walk through the ideas about who is responsible for the nautical compass as it
has been known for the last 500 years. Also about the preliminary steps, floating a needle on water etc.
Aczel is at his best on his home turf - the Mediterranean. In other places, somewhat less so. The fact that the person to whom the -invention- of the compass is ascribed, Flavio Gioia, may not have actually lived is belabored and lost in lack of any real records in antiquity. The compass (as mounted in a box) is supposed to have been invented in Amalfi (just south of Naples) between 1295 and 1302. The experts areee on that fact. The history of Amalfi vs Naples is interesting and enlightening.
The section on the history of Venice is also very enlightening, and although it says little about the compass it speaks thoroughly about how the compass helped Venice become the power it was.
The section on China shows weakness. Yet, China while it discovered the properties of magnetized iron to point South did not adopt those properties in early navigation mostly because as Aczel tells it, they did not do much deep sea navigation. They used the compass for divination and a type of fortune telling. True, most navigation in China was along rivers and canals and along the coast in contrast with the mariners of the Mediterranean who regularly sailed out of sight of land.
On the whole, this is a pleasant and quick read. Check the References and dip deeply there to better understand the Western compass.
~2020-04-19~
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