Hidden Attraction

出版者:Oxford Univ Pr on Demand

作者:Verschuur, Gerrit L.

页数:266

出版时间:1996-4

价格:$ 45.19

装帧:Pap

isbn号码:9780195106558

具体描述

Long one of nature's most fascinating phenomena, magnetism was once the subject of many superstitions. Magnets were thought useful to thieves, effective as a love potion or as a cure for gout or spasms. They could remove sorcery from women and put demons to flight and even reconcile married couples. It was said that a lodestone pickled in the salt of sucking fish had the power to attract gold. Today, these beliefs have been put aside, but magnetism is no less remarkable for our modern understanding of it. In Hidden Attraction, Gerrit L. Verschuur, a noted astronomer and National Book Award nominee for The Invisible Universe, traces the history of our fascination with magnetism, from the first discovery of magnets in Greece, to state-of-the-art theories that see magnetism as a basic force in the universe. The book begins with the early debunking of superstitions by Peter Peregrinus (Pierre de Maricourt), whom Roger Bacon hailed as one of the world's first experimental scientists (Perigrinus held that "experience rather than argument is the basis of certainty in science"). Verschuur discusses William Gilbert, who confronted the multitude of superstitions about lodestones in De Magnete, widely regarded as the first true work of modern science, in which Gilbert reported his greatest insight: that the earth itself was magnetic. We also meet Hans Christian Oersted, who demonstrated that an electric current could influence a magnet (Oersted did this for the first time during a public lecture) and Andre-Marie Ampere, who showed that a current actually produced magnetism. Verschuur also examines the pioneering experiments and theoretical breakthroughs of Faraday and Maxwell and Zeeman (who demonstrated the relationship between light and magnetism), and he includes many lively stories of discovery, such as the use of frogs by Galvani and Volta, and Hertz's accidental discovery of radio waves. Along the way, we learn many interesting scientific facts, perhaps the most remarkable of which is that lodestones are made by bacteria (a sediment organism known as GS-15 eats iron, converting ferric oxide to magnetite and, over billions of years, forming the magnetite layers in iron formations). Boasting many informative illustrations, this is an adventure of the mind, using the specific phenomenon of magnetism to show how we have moved from an era of superstitions to one in which the Theory of Everything looms on the horizon.

用户评价

我通常对这种题材的小说不太感冒，但这次真的被这本书独特的气质吸引住了。它没有落入俗套的宏大叙事，而是将焦点聚焦在个体生命体验的微观层面，这种处理方式显得格外真诚和动人。文字的节奏感掌握得极好，时而轻快如溪流潺潺，时而凝重如暴风雨前的寂静，让阅读体验充满了张力。我特别喜欢作者对环境和氛围的渲染，那些对光影、气味甚至是细微声响的捕捉，构建了一个既疏离又充满张力的空间。书中几位配角的塑造也相当成功，他们各自带着自己的伤痕和秘密，与主角的互动火花四射，推动着故事朝着不可预知的方向发展。整本书读下来，感觉就像经历了一场漫长而又令人振奋的旅途，每一个转折都恰到好处，让人忍不住想一口气读完，却又舍不得过快地结束。

这本小说实在是让我欲罢不能，读完之后心里久久不能平静。作者的笔触细腻而又充满力量，对人物内心的挣扎和情感的纠葛描绘得入木三分。故事的开端或许平淡无奇，但随着情节的层层推进，那种潜藏在平静之下的暗流涌动逐渐显现，让人不禁为主角的命运捏一把汗。尤其是那些关于选择与代价的探讨，更是触及了人性深处的痛点。我尤其欣赏作者在构建世界观上的用心，每一个细节都仿佛经过了精心的打磨，使得整个故事的背景立体而真实，让人仿佛身临其境。那些关于时间、记忆与遗忘的哲思，在不经意间就渗透进了故事的主线，让这部作品不仅仅停留在表面的情节冲突，更上升到了对生命意义的追问。读完后，我常常会陷入沉思，回味那些富有深意的对话和场景，这真是一次酣畅淋漓的精神洗礼。

这是一部非常具有实验性质的作品，对于那些习惯了传统叙事模式的读者来说，可能需要一个适应期。作者大量运用了意识流的手法，使得角色的内心世界得到了极大的展现，有时候你甚至分不清哪些是真实的事件，哪些仅仅是角色的臆想和恐惧的投射。但正是这种模糊性，赋予了作品一种迷离而又迷人的特质。我尤其欣赏作者在语言上的创新和大胆尝试，一些新颖的词语组合和句式结构，初看略显晦涩，但细细品味，却能感受到其中蕴含的独特韵味和深刻哲理。它更像是一首精心谱写的交响乐，需要你静下心来，去捕捉每一个音符，才能领略到全貌的壮阔与和谐。这不是一本可以边看手机边读的书，它要求你全身心地投入，并愿意为之付出思考的努力。

从文学性上来说，这本书的完成度相当高。它的结构如同一个精密的钟表，每一个齿轮——无论是角色的动机、环境的暗示还是关键的道具——都紧密咬合，推动着整体的运转。我特别喜欢作者对“沉默”的运用，很多关键的情感和信息并不是通过直白的对话传达的，而是隐藏在角色之间那令人窒息的停顿和未尽之语中。这种“留白”的处理，极大地激发了读者的想象力和参与感，迫使我们去填补那些被省略的部分，从而与故事建立起更深层次的联结。我花了很长时间消化最后几章，因为结局的处理既出人意料，又在情理之中，它没有提供一个标准化的答案，而是抛出了更多需要我们自己去面对和解答的问题。这是一本值得反复阅读，每次都会有新发现的佳作。

坦率地说，这本书的开篇有些慢热，我一度担心自己会错过什么精彩之处，但坚持读下去绝对是值得的。作者的叙事线索非常复杂，交织着过去与现在，现实与某种模糊的界限，需要读者保持高度的专注力去梳理。最让我印象深刻的是那种贯穿始终的宿命感，仿佛所有角色都在被一股无形的力量推向既定的终点，但他们又在拼命地抗争，这种矛盾的张力极具吸引力。书中关于信任与背叛的主题被处理得极为巧妙，没有简单的善恶二元划分，每个人都有其复杂且难以言说的动机。这种对人性的多面性的挖掘，让故事的层次感一下子丰富起来。读完之后，我发现自己对某些角色的行为有了新的理解，甚至开始站在他们的立场上去审视整个事件，这大概就是好故事的魅力所在——它能重塑读者的视角。