Hidden Attraction: The History and Mystery of Magnetism (Oxford Paperbacks)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 272 pages
• Published by: Oxford University Press, USA April 25, 1996
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0195106555
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0195106558
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Weighs: 13.8 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Verschuur ( Interstellar Matters ) properly includes the lodestone and quantum electrodynamics in the 400-year lineage of the electric light bulb. Most of Verschuur's history has fueled millons of middle-school science reports: Galvani, Oersted and Ampere coax out of magnetic phenomena the invisible genie of electricity; Farady, Maxwell and Hertz make a theoretical harness for it. But taking matters one step further, Verschuur reveals his greater theme: that simple curiosity about magnetism has led us to equations that can express truths about some aspects of nature itself. Verschuur provides more than bookends of familiar science history, with flourish and style demonstrating the hidden attraction that pulls us ever closer to the central mystery of the universe.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Using the story of magnetism as his framework, Verschuur (The Invisible Universe, 1986--not reviewed) discusses--from the vantage point of a committed propagandist for the scientific method--our historical journey from superstition to physics. Like a fusty old uncle who's nonetheless immensely learned and ultimately charming, Verschuur takes us by the hand and leads us from the almost alchemical experiments of the first true scientists, who explored the properties of lodestone, through the great pioneers of electricity (Faraday, Oerst, and AmpŠre, whose Kantian belief in the unity of natural phenomena led to the fusion of electromagnetism) to a brief primer on supersymmetry and the Theory of Everything, as well as on his own work in detecting the magnetic fields of galaxies. Displaying both his prickly disdain for the superstitious and an enthusiastic, almost naive approach to his scientific heroes, Verschuur sprinkles his text with fascinating anecdotes and well-chosen illustrations. Thumbnail biographies of principal scientists cleverly demonstrate how their backgrounds influenced their work (for example, the Protestantism of Faraday insisted on direct experience of the Bible without a priestly interpreter; similarly, the scientist picked to dispense with earlier, eventually disproved, hypotheses about electricity and to begin with the direct experience of experimentation). Repetitive and often stylistically clich‚d (``to make a long story short''; ``the moral of the story is,'' etc.); still, an entertaining, informative history that doubles as a solid guide to the nature of magnetism and electricity. (Sixteen halftones, seven line drawings.) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
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.