Popular Science Review - Fatal Attraction: Magnetic Mysteries of the Enlightenment

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Review - Fatal Attraction: Magnetic Mysteries of the Enlightenment - Patricia Fara

The combination of science and the enlightenment is Patricia Fara's trademark - and here she is again, this time exploring three key figures in the development of our ideas of magnetism.

It's one of Fara's best books, readable and interesting on Edmond Halley (who spent a lot more time on magnetism than comets), the inevitable oddity of Franz Mesmer and his animal magnetism and the now pretty well unheard of Gowin Knight, who turned commercial magnets and compasses into a fine art.

I wish there had been a little more background before plunging into Fara's favourite period - a few pages on what remains from early days (there's no mention of Peter Peregrinus' medieval De Magnete, for instance) would have given more context, but Fara loosens up more than in some of her books and gives us as good a picture of her three characters as is possible with the limited information available.

Another common Fara motif is dwelling lovingly on illustrations of the period, explaining the various elements in the illustration that we simply don't see with modern eyes - and as usual she does this very well.

The only reason this book doesn't do better than three stars is it's a bit too restricted to be great popular science. It's not detailed enough to be a set of three scientific biographies, but not general enough to be a popular science book on the history of magazine. Good stuff, though.

Only in hardback.

Reviewed by Brian Clegg

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