Narrator P.J. Ochlan’s tone is like that of a patient science teacher, an approach that is a boon for this audiobook. The spinning magnet of its title is our own planet, whose magnetic field is a fundamental force in our lives, even if it goes mostly unnoticed unless we’re holding a compass. Mitchell is a journalist, not a geophysicist, and her narrative is mostly nontechnical. But there are several concepts that need detailed explanations, and Ochlan delivers them clearly. He even manages not to sound alarmist when describing how one day Earth’s poles may reverse (as they have many times in the distant past), wreaking havoc on our technology. Mitchell weaves the physics around human stories, including her own travels and interviews with researchers, which gives Ochlan more freedom to stretch as a storyteller. D.B. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
The Spinning Magnet: The Electromagnetic Force That Created the Modern World--and Could Destroy It
Narrated by P. J. Ochlan
Alanna MitchellUnabridged — 9 hours, 37 minutes
The Spinning Magnet: The Electromagnetic Force That Created the Modern World--and Could Destroy It
Narrated by P. J. Ochlan
Alanna MitchellUnabridged — 9 hours, 37 minutes
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Overview
Alanna Mitchell's globe-trotting history of the science of electromagnetism and the Earth's magnetic field--right up to the latest indications that the North and South Poles may soon reverse, with apocalyptic results--will soon change the way you think about our planet.
Award-winning journalist Alanna Mitchell's science storytelling introduce intriguing characters--from the thirteenth-century French investigations into magnetism and the Victorian-era discover that electricity and magnetism emerge from the same fundamental force to the latest research. No one has ever told so eloquently how the Earth itself came to be seen as a magnet, spinning in space with two poles, and that those poles have dramatically reversed many time, often coinciding with mass extinctions. The most recent reversal was 780,000 years ago.
Mitchell explores indications that the Earth's magnetic force field is decaying faster than previously thought. When the poles switch, a process that takes many years, the Earth is unprotected from solar radiation storms that would, among other disturbances, wipe out much and possible all of our electromagnetic technology. Navigation for all kinds of animals is disrupted without a stable, magnetic North Pole. But can you imagine no satellites, no Internet, no smartphones--maybe no power grids at all?
Alanna Mitchell offers a beautifully crafted narrative history of surprising ideas and science, illuminating invisible parts of our own planet that are constantly changing around us.
Editorial Reviews
11/20/2017
Canadian science journalist Mitchell (Sea Sick) investigates critical yet little-discussed concerns for the future of our world in this narrative history of magnetism and study of periodical changes in Earth’s magnetic field. She begins with some giant steps through time to explain magnetism, starting with the big bang and running up to 19th-century Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell’s epic mathematical equations that show how electricity, magnetism, and light are all aspects of one another. The historical background is braided with scenes from Mitchell’s quest to find the rocks that French physicist Bernard Brunhes used to prove that Earth’s magnetic poles have periodically switched places. In the latter half of the book, Mitchell examines evidence that the Earth’s magnetic field is weakening—which indicates an upcoming pole shift—and explains the potential effects of such a shift on life around the globe, including electrical grids’ increased vulnerability to solar storms and harm to animals that rely on magnetism for navigation. Mitchell’s nontechnical discussion is substantively accessible, and her vivid writing holds the reader’s attention. Occasionally, elements of the narrative can be hard to follow, and diagrams and figures would have been helpful in clarifying the more complex ideas. Pop science readers and science policy wonks will find plenty to think—and worry—about here. Agent: Ron Eckel, Cooke Agency (Canada). (Jan.)
Praise for The Spinning Magnet
"The Earth's magnetic field — an invisible cloak that shields our bodies and our technologies from deadly harm — tends to be taken for granted. In reality it's a fickle, ill-understood phenomenon. Alanna Mitchell delves into the mystery, in an engrossing book that features a new surprise on every page."
—Sean Carroll, author of The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
"In The Spinning Magnet, Alanna Mitchell weaves a scientific mystery in the best possible way, exploring the ancient puzzle of our planet's electromagnetic field, following scientists as they attempt to decipher its clues, leading us to a better understanding of Earth's invisible and powerful electromagnetic field. The result is a compelling tale of unseen and unforeseen natural forces - and a reminder that we've staked our home on a planet that remains infinitely strange, dangerous - and ever full of wonder."
—Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
"A fascinating untold story of science that is full of mystery and intrigue, and written with a great deal of style."
—Mark Miodownik, New York Times bestselling author of Stuff Matters, winner of the Royal Society’s Winton Prize
"In The Spinning Magnet, Alanna Mitchell pulls off the rare trifecta in science writing: an engrossing plot of a planetary mystery, authentic character portraits of scientists and their passion for their work, and explanations of complex physics in easily understandable terms."
—Sabine Stanley, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University
“Most of us don’t think much about magnetism or the Earth’s magnetic field. We recognize the importance of navigational compasses and the usefulness of those little magnets that decorate our kitchen refrigerators, but we don’t feel magnetism’s presence in our daily lives and we suspect we could probably live without it. Think again! In The Spinning Magnet, Alanna Mitchell draws us into a spellbinding scientific detective story, told over the ages, as she nimbly explains magnetism’s role in everything that matters. Each chapter is filled with exciting new revelations written in clear crisp prose. A skilled writer, Mitchell puts magnetism on the map!”
—Timothy J. Jorgensen, author of Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation, winner of the American Institute of Physics' Science Communication Award
“[Mitchell] makes vivid the process of science … A complex, well-told account of ‘this spinning magnet we live on.'"—Kirkus Reviews
“Captivating scientific history… an invaluable contribution to the popular science shelf.” —Booklist
“Mitchell’s nontechnical discussion is substantively accessible, and her vivid writing holds the reader’s attention. … Pop science readers and science policy wonks will find plenty to think—and worry—about here.” –Publisher’s Weekly
“There is little doubt that the magnetic field will reverse again. In the meantime, The Spinning Magnet gives readers a nontechnical description of electromagnetism and a measured assessment of the possible consequences for our modern world if it does so in the near future.” –Science
“An intriguing story of humankind’s recent and evolving understanding of the integral electromagnetic properties of our planet that should hold the interest of both teen and adult readers.” –Library Journal
"Mitchell’s portrait gallery is researched with a depth and breadth that make its protagonists’ triumphs and failures compelling. She also gives entertaining accounts of today’s working geoscientists. … Her interviews provide insights into their thoughts and actions that transcend the stereotypes of inscrutable nerd or heroic explorer." –Nature
“We don’t usually feature nonfiction books on this list, but science journalist Mitchell’s narrative history of the science of electromagnetism—with a look toward the future and the imminent, inevitable reversing of the North and South Poles—sounds as thrilling as any scifi tale.” -io9
“Leaves readers tingling with anticipation… A thorough investigation of the scientific discoveries surrounding the electromagnetic field and what might happen when this force field fails.” -Shelf Awareness
“In the same vein as Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, Mitchell’s captivating book shocks us into contemplating the physical forces that keep our world spinning that we take for granted every day.” —BookPage
Alanna Mitchell pulls off the rare trifecta in science writing: an engrossing plot of a planetary mystery, authentic character portraits of scientists and their passion for their work, and explanations of complex physics in easily understandable terms.
—Sabine Stanley, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University
A fascinating untold story of science that is full of mystery and intrigue, and written with a great deal of style.
—Mark Miodownik, New York Times bestselling author of Stuff Matters, winner of the Royal Society’s Winton Prize
The Earth's magnetic field -- an invisible cloak that shields our bodies and our technologies from deadly harm -- tends to be taken for granted. In reality it's a fickle, ill-understood phenomenon. Alanna Mitchell delves into the mystery, in an engrossing book that features a new surprise on every page.
—Sean Carroll, author of The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
In The Spinning Magnet, Alanna Mitchell weaves a scientific mystery in the best possible way, exploring the ancient puzzle of our planet's electromagnetic field, following scientists as they attempt to decipher its clues, leading us to a better understanding of Earth's invisible and powerful electromagnetic field. The result is a compelling tale of unseen and unforeseen natural forces - and a reminder that we've staked our home on a planet that remains infinitely strange, dangerous - and ever full of wonder.
—Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
2017-10-30
An award-winning Canadian science journalist tells the story of the Earth's magnetic field.Deemed "a fleeting magic" by the ancients, our planet's magnetic force—generated in the Earth's core—holds matter together and makes a giant magnet of the Earth, with north and south poles. With the help of modern scientists, Mitchell (Malignant Metaphor: Confronting Cancer Myths, 2015, etc.) traces our growing understanding of the phenomenon through the "investigations of the Middle Ages, the electrical exploits of the Renaissance, and the compulsions of the Victorians." Leading geophysicists and others walk the author through the lives and experiments of many pioneering scientists, beginning with the 13th-century French engineer Petrus Peregrinus, who first tested the properties of magnetism. Mitchell takes us to an unmarked corner of rural France, where physicist Bernard Brunhes (1867-1910) discovered evidence in a "fabled" piece of rock that Earth's two magnetic poles have often switched places (most recently 780,000 years ago). By 1840, notes the author, 30 permanent observatories were studying magnetism. As she recounts the stories of scientists like Hans Christian Oersted, a Dane who studied the relationship between magnetism and electricity, the Italians Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday, inventor of the transformer, and seismologist Inge Lehmann, who discovered Earth's inner core, she makes vivid the process of science and the culture of scientific meetings. For all that is known, scientists still do not fully understand "the mysterious goings-on" at the planet's core. We cannot predict when the poles will next reverse, though such a reversal could have devastating impacts in our high-tech, networked world: the magnetic field protects against solar radiation. Mitchell's text sometimes borders on the technical, but patient readers will be rewarded by her combination of thoughtful conversations with, say, the editor of Faraday's papers and her encounters with geophysicist at various conferences.A complex, well-told account of "this spinning magnet we live on."
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169210163 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 01/30/2018 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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Chapter 1
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