North Pole, South Pole: The Epic Quest to Solve the Great Mystery of Earth's Magnetism

This "fantastic story" of one of physics' great riddles takes us through centuries of scientific history (Simon Lamb, author of Devil in the Mountain).



Why do compass needles point north-but not quite north? What guides the migration of birds, whales, and fish across the world's oceans? How is Earth able to sustain life under an onslaught of solar wind and cosmic radiation? For centuries, the world's great scientists have grappled with these questions, all rooted in the same phenomenon: Ear...