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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
the only thing saving this book from 2 stars is the last page and the fact that I am a very sentimental person.
A fascinating and compelling read that manages to humanize one of the giants of the ages, Galileo Galilei. I learned so much from this book, so many things that I didn't know had once been believed to be true, and I have finally been able to reconcile my knowledge of history with the actuality of events.
It is only from reading the dates at the bottom of S. Maria Celeste's letters to her father again and again that I finally realized that Galileo's trial for heresy took place some 13 years after the Puritans landex at Plymouth Rock. Somehow it always seemed a more distant event than that. I also didn't realize that Sir Isaac Newton did not come on the scene until after Galileo's death, such that the principles of the law of gravity were unknown to Galileo. That explains why he felt that the motion of the tides was evidence of the earth's rotation. Still, many of Galileo's studies encompassed in his final book (written after the trial) deal with physics and the laws of motion and truly reflect the birth of experimental science.so often Galileo is reduced in popular conception to the principle of heliocentrism, which minimizes his accomplishments as well as those of Copernicus, whose theories Galileo was merely defending.
I also learned why so many religious scholars were against the more logical and reasonable heliocentric view, which did not require stars and planets to jump around the sky like sugar-crazed toddlers. They felt that to confine God's processes and designs to logic, that would limit the power and majesty of an Omnipotent God.
Finally, I learned that it was not the Roman Catholic Church which condemned Galileo for his scientific views. It was the Officd of the Holy Inquisition (which is a separate entity from the Church in much the same way that the Post Office is separate from the U.S. Government) that condemned him for failure to obey a specific command given to him as strictly as they wanted.
A great read; would gladly recommend it to others.
It is only from reading the dates at the bottom of S. Maria Celeste's letters to her father again and again that I finally realized that Galileo's trial for heresy took place some 13 years after the Puritans landex at Plymouth Rock. Somehow it always seemed a more distant event than that. I also didn't realize that Sir Isaac Newton did not come on the scene until after Galileo's death, such that the principles of the law of gravity were unknown to Galileo. That explains why he felt that the motion of the tides was evidence of the earth's rotation. Still, many of Galileo's studies encompassed in his final book (written after the trial) deal with physics and the laws of motion and truly reflect the birth of experimental science.so often Galileo is reduced in popular conception to the principle of heliocentrism, which minimizes his accomplishments as well as those of Copernicus, whose theories Galileo was merely defending.
I also learned why so many religious scholars were against the more logical and reasonable heliocentric view, which did not require stars and planets to jump around the sky like sugar-crazed toddlers. They felt that to confine God's processes and designs to logic, that would limit the power and majesty of an Omnipotent God.
Finally, I learned that it was not the Roman Catholic Church which condemned Galileo for his scientific views. It was the Officd of the Holy Inquisition (which is a separate entity from the Church in much the same way that the Post Office is separate from the U.S. Government) that condemned him for failure to obey a specific command given to him as strictly as they wanted.
A great read; would gladly recommend it to others.
‘There was only one trial of Galileo, and yet it seems there were a thousand –‘
In 1633, the astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was tried and convicted of heresy by the Holy Office of the Inquisition for the crime of having defended the idea that the sun is the centre of the universe around which the earth and planets revolve. Galileo was punished by being placed under house arrest and ordered to publicly affirm his belief in the earth-centred universe. Galileo’s story is the stuff of legend. And yet, there are few references to the support given to Galileo by Suor Maria Celeste, a member of the order of Poor Clares in the Convent of San Matteo in Arcetri. Born Virginia Galilei in 1600, she is the eldest of Galileo’s three illegitimate children and lived within the cloistered walls of San Matteo from 1613 until her death in 1634.
In Galileo’s Daughter, Ms Sobel interweaves the stories of father and daughter. Suor Maria Celeste’s letters to Galileo have survived; his to her have not. Ms Sobel writes that his letters were probably destroyed by the Convent after her death:
‘In this fashion, the correspondence between father and daughter was long ago reduced to a monologue.’
The lives of father and daughter could not be in more stark contrast: she lived within the confines of a convent; much of his life was lived very publicly through his teaching, research and invention. We know about Galileo’s public life, but in this book we learn of domestic concerns, of his daughter’s preparation of pills and potions for his illness, of her mending and sewing for him and of preparing food for him. We learn as well that Galileo was a generous benefactor of the Convent, and that Suor Maria Celeste served as an apothecary and was sought out by the abbesses to write important letters.
Although the title of the book is ’Galileo’s Daughter’ and the focus is on Suor Maria Celeste, it is Galileo’s life that occupies centre stage. Suor Maria Celeste’s letters provide another and different insight into Galileo’s life as well as raising quite a few questions about the treatment of daughters (especially illegitimate daughters in the 17th century). I admit that my primary focus was on Galileo, but I found myself liking Suor Maria Celeste and wanting to know more about her. This book brings them both to life.
‘Thus, to imagine an infinite universe was merely to grant almighty God his proper due.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In 1633, the astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was tried and convicted of heresy by the Holy Office of the Inquisition for the crime of having defended the idea that the sun is the centre of the universe around which the earth and planets revolve. Galileo was punished by being placed under house arrest and ordered to publicly affirm his belief in the earth-centred universe. Galileo’s story is the stuff of legend. And yet, there are few references to the support given to Galileo by Suor Maria Celeste, a member of the order of Poor Clares in the Convent of San Matteo in Arcetri. Born Virginia Galilei in 1600, she is the eldest of Galileo’s three illegitimate children and lived within the cloistered walls of San Matteo from 1613 until her death in 1634.
In Galileo’s Daughter, Ms Sobel interweaves the stories of father and daughter. Suor Maria Celeste’s letters to Galileo have survived; his to her have not. Ms Sobel writes that his letters were probably destroyed by the Convent after her death:
‘In this fashion, the correspondence between father and daughter was long ago reduced to a monologue.’
The lives of father and daughter could not be in more stark contrast: she lived within the confines of a convent; much of his life was lived very publicly through his teaching, research and invention. We know about Galileo’s public life, but in this book we learn of domestic concerns, of his daughter’s preparation of pills and potions for his illness, of her mending and sewing for him and of preparing food for him. We learn as well that Galileo was a generous benefactor of the Convent, and that Suor Maria Celeste served as an apothecary and was sought out by the abbesses to write important letters.
Although the title of the book is ’Galileo’s Daughter’ and the focus is on Suor Maria Celeste, it is Galileo’s life that occupies centre stage. Suor Maria Celeste’s letters provide another and different insight into Galileo’s life as well as raising quite a few questions about the treatment of daughters (especially illegitimate daughters in the 17th century). I admit that my primary focus was on Galileo, but I found myself liking Suor Maria Celeste and wanting to know more about her. This book brings them both to life.
‘Thus, to imagine an infinite universe was merely to grant almighty God his proper due.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
I have to say I was disappointed in this book. For a start, it's not really about Galileo's daughter, and it's not even the story of Galileo's troubles as seen from the perspective of his daughter. Instead it feels more like a gimmick to retell the standard story of Galileo by interspersing the text with a few letters from his daughter.
I read a lot of academic historical non-fiction and I don't think this is particularly well written. On the positive side, I didn't know the details of Galileo's story and found it quite interesting (I had the impression that he'd had a much harder time of things than he did)!
I read a lot of academic historical non-fiction and I don't think this is particularly well written. On the positive side, I didn't know the details of Galileo's story and found it quite interesting (I had the impression that he'd had a much harder time of things than he did)!
informative
reflective
This book had an interesting premise (letters written to Galileo from his illegitimate daughter who became a nun) and I thought the scientist-to-nun ratio was exactly opposite of what it should be. I was much more interested in the life of a cloistered nun, but the author has a scientific bent and not a social historian's bent and thus, we disagreed as to what is most interesting. The politics of science and the Catholic church were interesting and many people in book group liked this book, but I was not one of them.
3.5 Stars. I've never read a biography of Galileo before, and this one was pretty good. He had an interesting life and I enjoyed the more human view of him you can see from his daughter's letters. I was hoping for more about her (thought I know she likely led a less noteworthy life than he did, and has less surviving information), since the book is named after her. But, it was really about him, with an emphasis on his relationship with her.
informative
slow-paced