Rating: 
Summary: The Invention with a Mysterious Past that Changed the World
Review: +++++
The author, Amir Aczel states, "This book explores the series of riddles that make up the story of the [magnetic] compass--the mysteries of the invention that changed navigation, commerce, and the world economy."
Some riddles or questions discussed are as follows:
(1) Who or what group of people are thought to have invented the magnetic compass?
(2) How did people discover that a magnetic needle, suspended in air or water, could be used to indicate the north?
(3) What year is it thought that the magnetic compass was invented?
(4) Was the compass developed independently in two or more different countries?
(5) Where did what we now call compass directions (north, south, east, and west) originate?
(6) Where was the compass perfected so it could be adapted for navigation?
(7) How did mariners learn to use the compass directions of riddle (5) above?
(8) How did sailors navigate the seas before the advent of the compass?
(9) How did sailors begin to use the compass for navigation?
(10) What was the immediate consequence of the invention of the compass for navigation?
This book composed of twelve chapters can be roughly divided into three parts:
1. This part consists of chapters one to seven. It is here that the possible answers to the riddles of the compass are explored.
2. The next part consists of chapters eight to eleven. It attempts to answer the riddle of how the compass became known throughout the world. Here, the "Great Age of Exploration" is examined where "Columbus, da Gama, Magellan, [Cook], and other Spanish and Portuguese navigators conquered the oceans."
3. The last part consists of chapter twelve. It states the author's conclusions and summarizes chapters one to eleven.
This book is very easy to read and thus is a fast read. There are illustrations throughout it. Personally, I learned a lot from this slim book.
People who like concrete answers will probably not enjoy this book. Why? Because much about the compass is unknown and "shrouded in mystery." Thus, what Aczel has done is gather the best evidence he could from "books, manuscripts, and pamphlets of specialized academic circulation" some of which were written "hundreds of years ago" and "often written in Italian, French, or German" (of which he had to translate). From this mass of material, he drew certain inferences and conclusions.
The author briefly mentions the navigational chronometer and refers the reader to the excellent book by Dava Sobel entitled "Longitude" (1995). Interested readers may also want to check out the book entitled "The Illustrated Longitude" (1998).
Finally, there were a few problems I had with this book:
1. The book's title. Some readers may try to look for a single riddle. This book is not about a riddle but about a series of riddles or better still, mysteries. Thus, a better title might be "The Riddles of the Compass" or "The Mysteries of the Compass."
2. The author includes a diagram that has the caption "How the magnetic compass works." Actually, what is depicted is the Earth's magnetic lines of force. The author explains that the Earth's magnetic poles have a different location than its geographical poles. Yet, the diagram shows the magnetic lines of force running from the Earth's geographic North Pole to its geographic South Pole. Why?
3. There is a chapter on Marco Polo and his navigational journeys. The author states that Polo said nothing about the compass in his writings. Thus, I could not understand why this chapter was included.
4. The author tells us that he did not list all his footnote sources. In a work of this nature, I felt he should of (even though there was a "large number of sources used and...these materials are not accessible to most readers").
In conclusion, this is a good, solid, concise story about the compass. Once you read this book, you will agree with the author when he says that the compass is "the invention that changed the world."
(first published 2001; preface; 12 chapters; main narrative 160 pages; illustrated; references; acknowledgements; index)
+++++
Rating: 
Summary: The Compass In History
Review: Amir Aczel presents us with the story of the origins of the compass, in as much detail as scholars have been able to discover. Aczel covers the use of the compass with ancient mariners and how these mariners had to rely on other navigational aids in the days before the compass, such as wind, plants, sounding lines, sea life, geography, currents, etc.. Also mentioned as well is the use of stars in determining latitude, longitude was much more difficult to determine due to the lack of accurate chronometers in early times. Much of this volume deals with the origin of the 16 point wind rose and how it became incorporated into the modern compass, documented with events and ancient documents in China, and Italy, up to medival times and beyond. This includes discussions of the Etruscans, the cities of Amalfi and Venice, the explorer Marco Polo, all relating to the development of the compass. The second to last chapter sketches the voyages in the Great Age Of Exploration which were vastly aided by the compass, in addition to the astrolabe, a precursor of the sextant. I believe that Amir Aczel made a very good case here that the compass is one of the pivitol inventions of humanity. Ask yourself this: if the compass had never been invented (which would have slowed down trade and the exchange of information and ideas) how many years of progress would have been lost? My wild guess is 50-100 years of lost progress, a lot.
Rating:
Summary: A good, readable narrative
Review: Amir Aczel spent his childhood on the Mediterranean Sea--literally--sailing around in and sometimes steering a passenger ship that was captained by his father. This romantic personal history makes Aczel particularly suited to tell the story of the compass, which so improved navigation in the late thirteenth century that it sparked a commercial revolution and made possible the Age of Exploration that was to follow.
In his highly readable narrative Aczel provides a brief history of navigation centered on the compass--from navigation by stars and sounding lines to the naval supremacy of the Venetians in the 14th and 15th centuries to the masterful sailing of the great explorers--da Gama, Magellan--who opened up the world in the 15th and 16th centuries. We learn, too, about the early invention of the compass in China, where it was evidently not used at sea, and of its perfection as a naval instrument in the Italian city of Amalfi.
The Riddle of the Compass is at its best when Aczel discusses the actual "riddle" to which the title of the book refers: the question of the historicity of a certain Flavio Gioia, whom the people of Amalfi credit with having invented the mariner's compass in 1302. Most interestingly, the question of this Gioia's existence involves the correct interpretation of a single Latin phrase, a reference to the invention of the compass in an early 16th century commentary on the poetry of Lucrezio Caro.
Readers of Dava Sobel's popular book Longitude, which tells the story of the invention of the naval chronometer, will enjoy Amir Aczel's equally readable history of the compass.
Debra Hamel -- book-blog reviews
Author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece
Rating: 
Summary: Amateurish and poorly researched.
Review: I'll put it simply: this is a poor history of the compass. For almost ten years, publishers have been throwing money at anyone who might attempt to repeat the success of Dava Sobel's 'Longitude', and here we see the worst outcome of that lust for success. This book is worthless.
Rating:
Summary: Generally underwhelming...
Review: Just not much meat in this book.
Scant technical description of the compass, a somewhat disputable conclusion of the origin of the compass and poorly written and organized.
Historical anecdotes were interesting, but that was about it. Definitely doesn't live up to it's title!
Rating:
Summary: The unanswered Riddle
Review: The book lacks real research and does not answer the riddle of the compass. We are left with what we learned in grade school - that the Chinese probably invented the compass and that it helps a lot when sailing about the world. The author fails to make his case that the compass is the second greatest invention (after the wheel). And he glosses over the invention of a chronometer which really made navigation a science. The time spent reading this small book would be better spent doing something else.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Tale About The Riddle & Compass History
Review: The reviews of this book go from one extreme to the other- are you confused about reading this book? As one reviewer suggested to the naysayers- lighten-up! I agree. This book is well presented and covers far more than the "riddle" of who invented the navigational compass, although that alone is worth the read. The history of the compass starting with the ancient Chinese discovery of the magnetic qualities of lodestone and applying that knowledge to construct a land use compass, then following the invention around the world and over centuries until it was discovered to be useful for sea navigation and it's design perfection as it traveled from one country to the next up to contemporary times, is also worth the read. Aczel's treatment of this subject includes his account as a young man and his own time spent in the pilot house of ocean liners learning navigation from his seafaring father and captain. He learned the importance of a compass as a navigation aid and this was a great prelude to writing with hands-on knowledge. Some of the naysayers have attempted to dilute the importance of the compass as a navigational aid- hah! Like Aczel, I too, have spent much time on the ocean and for those that think sailing without a compass is no big thing, consider the older tools of navigation, i.e., guiding by the stars, etc. What do you guide by with during cloudy skies, turbulent seas and no land in sight for weeks or months on end? The compass is unaffected by those conditions and it also lead to accurate, cross-ocean, long distance mapping of the entire world. And they said that's no big thing???? Landlubbers- sheesh! After finishing this book, I read "The Compass" by Paula Z. Hogan, 1980. Although it was writen for children 9-12, it is a great read for all ages, very informative and at only 60 pages long plus illustrations and experiments, packs more relevant compass info than any book I've read and is great companion to Aczel's book.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but Left Some Explanations Open
Review: The topic was certainly interesting, but the device is so simple that it's a little difficult to go much deeper than the author did. He certainly cites enough documents, but, not too unexpectedly, they seem to talk to human events rather than of anything technical. It's good to know about how the sixteen points came about, but he offered no explanation about what I consider the somewhat bizarre naming of the points. Maybe I'm missing something, but is the scheme for name ordering the points between, say, N and E, the same as from, say, E to S?
The section of Flavio Gioia left me almost as confused about the supposed inventor of the 'modern' (1302?!!) compass as the Italians who erected a statue in 1902 to this apparently fictional character. The name Gioia appears from nowhere.
I would like to have more detail about how early navigators actually did some of their navigation, but what he did supply was still interesting. Not too long ago I was in the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and saw some interesting devices the Scandinavians used. Unfortunately, a huge crowd of students made it difficult to really figure out and even see what the exhibit had to offer. It would have been good to see the detail offered there expressed in such a book as this.
I found a section near the very end of the book a little puzzling. He talks about how the Chinese were very secretive about their discoveries, and mentions they had a cure for malaria for some two centuries. Only recently has it become known to the West. It's based on a herb that's not only found in China but in N. America. He never mentions what it is! This is somehow how I felt about the book. It seemed to leave the door open for other answers to items discussed in the book.
Rating:
Summary: What was the riddle?
Review: There are a variety of interesting facts presented, but the narrative fails. Aczel organizes his comments around a visit to Amalfi, Italy. According to the book, he arrives in Amalfi to celebrate the birth of Flavio Gioia, a celebrated 13th century Amalfi native whom locals credit with inventing the compass. Wanting to know more about Flavio, he goes to an Amalfi library for research reading. The result is this little tome. At the book's conclusion, our investigative reporter looks up at the understanding librarian, provides words of appreciation and leaves. We then learn that the first known use of magnetic direction devices was Chinese divination practice, now known as Feng Shui. It seems the first use of a compass was architectural. The Chinese liked having their front doors facing the auspicious south. Sometime around 1100, someone in Italy discoved Feng Shui navigation. It seems Feng Shui architectural tools were equally useful for turning a boat's bow to the south. Further, the always inventive Italians put the device in a box for easy divination during off shore religious services. This was particularly useful during inclement weather. I guess the 'riddle' was 'who was Fabio Gioa?', but this pleasant chunk of local folklore is quickly dismissed as legend springing from a missing comma in some 15th century manuscript. An alternative might have been 'who invented the compass,' but it is clear this cannot be deduced. A third mystery involves the changing 'compass rose'. On ancient maps, there were 12 directions. Sometime during the 13th century, maps started using a 16 direction 'compass rose'. Who or what sparked that change? While these issues have the makings of an excellent story on the social shaping of technology, the author never really bring the issues into focus. There are lots of curious details, but the author forgets the punchline. A lot of time is spend speculating on who 'invented' the compass. Since the familiar European compass is little more than a boxed Chinese 'pivoting magnetized needle', it isn't clear the 12th century Italian design is really an 'invention' at all. This could have provided an interesting segway to an investigation of 'creation' myths in general. It seems many medieval technological imports from China and/or the Muslim Caliphates get transmuted from 'import' to 'invention' in the 16th century. Why these myths were so important, and still offered credibility seems an important topic, but Aczel only alludes to the issue.
Rating:
Summary: What was the riddle?
Review: There are a variety of interesting facts presented, but the narrative fails. Aczel organizes his comments around a visit to Amalfi, Italy. According to the book, he arrives in Amalfi to celebrate the birth of Flavio Gioia, a celebrated 13th century Amalfi native whom locals credit with inventing the compass. Wanting to know more about Flavio, he goes to an Amalfi library for research reading. The result is this little tome. At the book's conclusion, our investigative reporter looks up at the understanding librarian, provides words of appreciation and leaves. We then learn that the first known use of magnetic direction devices was Chinese divination practice, now known as Feng Shui. It seems the first use of a compass was architectural. The Chinese liked having their front doors facing the auspicious south. Sometime around 1100, someone in Italy discoved Feng Shui navigation. It seems Feng Shui architectural tools were equally useful for turning a boat's bow to the south. Further, the always inventive Italians put the device in a box for easy divination during off shore religious services. This was particularly useful during inclement weather. I guess the 'riddle' was 'who was Fabio Gioa?', but this pleasant chunk of local folklore is quickly dismissed as legend springing from a missing comma in some 15th century manuscript. An alternative might have been 'who invented the compass,' but it is clear this cannot be deduced. A third mystery involves the changing 'compass rose'. On ancient maps, there were 12 directions. Sometime during the 13th century, maps started using a 16 direction 'compass rose'. Who or what sparked that change? While these issues have the makings of an excellent story on the social shaping of technology, the author never really bring the issues into focus. There are lots of curious details, but the author forgets the punchline. A lot of time is spend speculating on who 'invented' the compass. Since the familiar European compass is little more than a boxed Chinese 'pivoting magnetized needle', it isn't clear the 12th century Italian design is really an 'invention' at all. This could have provided an interesting segway to an investigation of 'creation' myths in general. It seems many medieval technological imports from China and/or the Muslim Caliphates get transmuted from 'import' to 'invention' in the 16th century. Why these myths were so important, and still offered credibility seems an important topic, but Aczel only alludes to the issue.
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