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    Unavailable
    The Spinning Magnet: The Electromagnetic Force That Created the Modern World—and Could Destroy It
    Unavailable
    The Spinning Magnet: The Electromagnetic Force That Created the Modern World—and Could Destroy It
    Unavailable
    The Spinning Magnet: The Electromagnetic Force That Created the Modern World—and Could Destroy It
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Spinning Magnet: The Electromagnetic Force That Created the Modern World—and Could Destroy It

    Written by Alanna Mitchell

    Narrated by P.J. Ochlan

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The mystery of Earth's invisible, life-supporting power

    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.

    Editor's Note

    New release…

    Need something new to worry about? This well-researched and readable history of the science of the Earth's magnetic fields also presents the possibility of the north and south poles switching positions in the future, with near apocalyptic results.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 30, 2018
    ISBN9780525527718
    Unavailable
    The Spinning Magnet: The Electromagnetic Force That Created the Modern World—and Could Destroy It

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    Reviews for The Spinning Magnet

    4/5

    14 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I am a bit conflicted when it comes to reviewing a book by someone who does not have expertise in the field. A lot of popular science writers make a living out of producing books on subjects where they are non-experts. (Well at least initially). I guess, they can approach the subject without any pre-conceptions or commitments to particular schools of thought and that is an advantage where there are often multiple competing theories. Assuming that they are intelligent information hounds they can also question all the acknowledged experts in the field and draw on their knowledge...and hopefully, ask some of the tough questions that the experts might be trying to avoid. And finally, a good writer can usually put together a readable book. Though this one follows the well worn formula of personal anecdote (maybe with a bit of the flavour of the eccentric scientist she is interviewing) then into the science ...or often history in this case. Mitchell traces the development of knowledge about magnets and the earth's magnetic field from the very beginnings though until the present. Along the way we are treated to the intriguing story of magnetism in rocks and reversals of magnetism and how the magnetism in rocks let to the gradual adoption of the drifting continents theory. (although not without huge opposition). William Gilbert put it rather well when he said that he would be..."dammed and torn to pieces by the maledictions of those who are either sworn to the opinions of other men, or are foolish, corruptors of good arts,learned idiots, grammatists, sophists, wranglers , and perverse little folk"....And sure enough the Jesuits led the attack. "Heliocentism was ...monstrous. According to contemporary (around 1600AD) interpretations of the bible, the earth was the core of God's creation . This meant that everything else had to revolve around it.To claim anything else was was to claim that the Bible was wrong . Heresy". Hard to fight against these sorts of ideas. they were pretty resistant to evidence and reason or common sense. And quick to burn people at the stake to make their point about "wrong belief". Interesting how it was so often those doing the burning who were wrong. Seems like justice was in rather short supply and one wonders what a just god was doing about this sort of activity. And it wasn't just the clerics who hounded unorthodox belief. P 186 has a nice little vignette about poor Alfred Wegener..who came up with the idea t(in 1915)hat the continents actually drifted apart ...he was ostracised and unable to find work at a university in his home country...he died trapped in a storm ...when he was 50 and long before he was vindicated.Cambridge's Sir Edward Bullard, one of the British lions of geophysics, who first repudiated Wegener's ideas and then championed them, wrote about the backlashing a retrospective essay in the 1970's. "There is always a strong inclination for a body f professionals oppose an unorthodox view. Such a group has a considerable investment in orthodoxy: They have learned to interpret a large body of data in terms of the old view, and they have prepared lectures and perhaps written books with the old background. To think the whole subject through again
    • 2/5
      I really wanted to give this book at least 3 stars but just couldn't. I certainly learned something about magnetism and the Earth's magnetic field, I'll give you that. But, in my opinion, the book has some serious flaws.The author tends to anthropomorphism to much. But this I mean, and I'm paraphrasing here, statements like "the electrons want to do this or that", "the earth and sun's magnetic fields frolic", the "conflict" between the inner and outer core. I read a lot of general science books and I'm sure other authors do this sort of thing but I don't remember it being so blatant as it is here. The book could seriously use some diagrams. Some of these concepts are hard to visualize and visualization helps with understanding. Some diagrams depicting the magnetic lines of force around the planet, the Van Allen Belts, and a few others would have really helped.The cover states "The electromagnetic force that created the modern world - AND COULD DESTROY IT". This is where the book really fails. She has a lot of information about the discovery of the earth's magnetic field and the relatively recent discovery that the field has reversed itself a number of times in the past. It's been 780,000 years since the last reversal, she mentions several times, leading us to think we're overdue. Maybe, but that wasn't clear. It sounds as if there is no real agreement on that among the scientists who study this. Some are worried, some are not. The magnetic field has apparently been weakening as long as it's been studied but we've only been studying it for a few hundred years and the field has been around for billions of years. There's just no way of knowing if what we're seeing is just normal fluctuations (at least as far as I could tell from this book) or if it means the field is going to reverse tomorrow.Is there a way to prepare for a field reversal? Don't know from here. It's been hard enough to get governments interested in global climate change, which has near universal acceptance among scientists. And what might happen to us? More cancer? Disruptions in communications? The end of FaceBook? The end of civilization? Hard to tell. This part of the book bothered me the most, mainly due to the tease on the cover. 80% of the book is leading up to the question of field reversal and the payoff was meager.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      With all the talk of climate change, the sixth extinction, the collision of galaxies and the death of the sun, Alanna Mitchell adds another – the fading of our magnetic field. We are protected from the sun’s ferocity by a magnetic field that comes from the core of the planet. The sun can blow it back, but it can’t blow it away. Worryingly, all is not well with that shield.The Spinning Magnet is almost entirely history. Mitchell looks at the long list of milestones as we discovered and tried to understand electricity and magnetism. There are as many wrong turns as right ones, but today we have a good idea of what came before (though no feel for what comes next). The most important discovery was that electricity and magnetism are both manifestations of the same force. We ignore one for the other at our peril. By 1838 we knew the magnetic field came from the center of the Earth. We’ve spend the following 200 years taking measurements everywhere, all the time, to figure out the patterns, the intensity, the movements and the implications. But that’s also how we know it is fading.The magnetic north and south poles used to reverse fairly regularly, and they leave traces when they do. There hasn’t been one since we came along, so we don’t know what to expect. But reversing the poles and the field will almost certainly wreak havoc like we’ve never seen. For one thing, we now run on electricity. When extraordinary solar flares penetrated the field in the mid 1800s, batteries powering the telegraph network all over the western world caught fire, seemingly spontaneously. Disconnecting them did not shut the system down, however. It ran on “celestial power”. Today, everything is electric. But in addition, everything runs on magnetic media. All the software, hard drives and memory banks in the world might be wiped if the magnetic field behaves badly. It could be like Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, but with no possibility of aid, as nothing would work anywhere. And that doesn’t count what it might do living beings. Birds for example, can actually see the magnetic field, and use it to navigate thousands of miles twice a year. Many insects use it too. We have no idea how they will handle a reversal. If the field doesn’t reverse but fades away, the sun will be free to fry the Earth into another Mercury, and continually bombard it with killer radiation (which is why “escaping” to Mars is no solution. Its magnetic field is long gone). It gives one pause.Mitchell’s style is fast and spare. Her book is very easy to read. The sentences are short, direct and declarative. The chapters are short and concise. They are discrete entities, each having its own tight purpose. She avoids the worst complexities. It is page 96 before Mitchell uses the word quantum. And it only appears once more later. That’s pretty remarkable for a book on atomic structures and processes.The irony is that our discovery of electricity, magnetism and how to employ them has allowed us to understand that life as we know it could end with the change or demise of the magnetic field and all the wonderful ways we have deployed electricity and magnetism.David Wineberg

      1 person found this helpful