Gurney, Alan. Compass: A Story of Exploration and Innovation.

GURNEY, Alan. Compass; a story of exploration and innovation. Norton. 320p. illus, notes, bibliog, index, c2004. 0-393-32713-2. $13.95. SA *

Gurney, formerly a yacht designer and now a writer living in Suffolk, England, has written a richly detailed history of the most important navigational device of all time--the magnetic compass. Occupying a critically important space between its ancestral roots (the primitive lodestone) and its late 20th-century descendents (the gyrocompass and GPS technology), the magnetic compass, born of the need for a reliable means of negotiating treacherous sea routes around the globe, has been an indispensable sailor's guide. Gurney's fast-paced and thoroughly informative history of the compass--enriched by an anecdotal narrative style', nicely supplemented with drawings, illustrations, and a bibliography of more than 170 sources; and fortified by documentation gleaned from hundreds of diaries, logs, and firsthand accounts--draws upon an assorted cast of historic characters (sailors, explorers, scientists, and engineers) as well as on diverse disciplines (astronomy, mathematics, geography, oceanography, meteorology, cartography, and medicine).

But more than the fascinating and comprehensive story of the magnetic compass--the object that famous writer Victor Hugo called the "soul of the ship"--this is more significantly an epic tale of adventures and misadventures, human ingenuity and follies, and maritime mysteries and catastrophes that will appeal to serious students and advanced readers. Tim Davis, Adjunct Instructor of Lit., Univ. of W. Florida, Pensacola, FL