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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Very dry and reads just like a textbook. Not my thing at all.
I read this because of my father’s interest in Galileo and his writing of a play titled after Galileo. It was well written and illuminating.
I bought this book ages ago but was pretty bored by it and DNF"d a while back. On audio, I was better able to engage. This book isn't about Galileo's daughter (though he had three illegitimate children) so much as it uses her letters to him to provide a full, and human, portrait of him.
I'm a sucker for historically-driven novels. Particularly ones that center around places I've visited. I still have my lip balm from the Pharmacia di Santa Maria Novella in Florence and vividly remember its ornate cabinetry, apothecary jars, and painted ceilings. I love the father-daughter relationship revealed in letters sent from either side of the convent's walls. And while I almost felt like I was tresspassing, it's one of my favorite books to date.
5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
A biography of Galileo Galilei, told in part through letters from his daughter and supporter.
Review
Dava Sobel is easily the best science history writer I’ve encountered, challenged only and tangentially by Mary Roach. I’ve enjoyed Sobel’s books Longitude and The Planets, and Galileo’s Daughter is even better.
I knew only the outlines of Galileo’s story, and not all of it correctly at that. I initially thought the approach of telling the story through letters from his daughter was forced, contrived. And in fact the first portion of the book – Galileo’s early life – is necessarily not told through these letters at all. Yet once the daughter is old enough, and the letters do turn up, Sobel’s handling of them is masterful – they’re interspersed among narrative history sections in a way that feels entirely organic and natural.
Despite the title, the book is about Galileo, not his daughter. Yet they appear to have been so close that the title is fair – Galileo’s story includes that of his daughter, who was his close confidante, advisor, friend, and even at times manager of some of his affairs – all from within the tight confines of a convent far from Rome and its intrigues.
Intrigues and politics are a substantial part of the story – currying of favor, influential supporters, and careful management of friends are essential to Galileo’s successes and failures. What was heartening to me, though – especially in days like these, when science is seen by some as a bad word – is just how committed and supportive many people were. Galileo is seen, rightly, by many, many people as a forward-thinking genius. The fact that they have to twist their thoughts (or at least utterances) into theological knots in order to both appreciate progress and toe the Catholic line does credit to their intent, and their recognition of Galileo as a force to be reckoned with. It’s equally heartening that his daughter, Sister Maria Celeste, a cloistered, prematurely toothless, 17th century nun under a vow of poverty, is, at least to some extent, recognized by contemporaries as an important participant in Galileo’s achievements.
The book isn’t perfect. I felt it ran a little long, and runs out of energy after Galileo’s encounter with the Inquisition. And there are a lot of Vincenzios to keep track of. But Sobel picks it up somewhat at the end, with a conclusion that left me in tears (okay, it’s not that hard to make me cry). All in all, a beautifully written, carefully researched and organized history of a giant in science, and the daughter who helped him get there.
Summary
A biography of Galileo Galilei, told in part through letters from his daughter and supporter.
Review
Dava Sobel is easily the best science history writer I’ve encountered, challenged only and tangentially by Mary Roach. I’ve enjoyed Sobel’s books Longitude and The Planets, and Galileo’s Daughter is even better.
I knew only the outlines of Galileo’s story, and not all of it correctly at that. I initially thought the approach of telling the story through letters from his daughter was forced, contrived. And in fact the first portion of the book – Galileo’s early life – is necessarily not told through these letters at all. Yet once the daughter is old enough, and the letters do turn up, Sobel’s handling of them is masterful – they’re interspersed among narrative history sections in a way that feels entirely organic and natural.
Despite the title, the book is about Galileo, not his daughter. Yet they appear to have been so close that the title is fair – Galileo’s story includes that of his daughter, who was his close confidante, advisor, friend, and even at times manager of some of his affairs – all from within the tight confines of a convent far from Rome and its intrigues.
Intrigues and politics are a substantial part of the story – currying of favor, influential supporters, and careful management of friends are essential to Galileo’s successes and failures. What was heartening to me, though – especially in days like these, when science is seen by some as a bad word – is just how committed and supportive many people were. Galileo is seen, rightly, by many, many people as a forward-thinking genius. The fact that they have to twist their thoughts (or at least utterances) into theological knots in order to both appreciate progress and toe the Catholic line does credit to their intent, and their recognition of Galileo as a force to be reckoned with. It’s equally heartening that his daughter, Sister Maria Celeste, a cloistered, prematurely toothless, 17th century nun under a vow of poverty, is, at least to some extent, recognized by contemporaries as an important participant in Galileo’s achievements.
The book isn’t perfect. I felt it ran a little long, and runs out of energy after Galileo’s encounter with the Inquisition. And there are a lot of Vincenzios to keep track of. But Sobel picks it up somewhat at the end, with a conclusion that left me in tears (okay, it’s not that hard to make me cry). All in all, a beautifully written, carefully researched and organized history of a giant in science, and the daughter who helped him get there.
Story of Galileo's relationships with his daughter, the church and fellow scientists using letters from his daughter as the book's foundation. Chilling what power the church had, which serves as a cautionary tale of keeping church and state clearly separated, even today.
This was a well-written story that could have been very dry. It was more about Galileo than his daughter, but it did offer an interesting perspective on life in his time.
This was an interesting (and very detailed and well-researched) biography of Galileo mixed in with details about every day life in 17th-century Italy from the surviving letters from his oldest daughter, a nun in a local monastery. The title implies that the book is about her, but really, it's about him.
It was fascinating to read about Galileo's trial for heresy and how he tried to balance his Catholic faith (which meant abiding by the Pope's edicts) and the conflicting scientific observations he made about the sun being the center of the solar system. When science and religion collided, he chose religion, and was still labeled a heretic. The book he wrote that got him into trouble (after being approved by the local clergy editors) was on the list of banned books for nearly 200 years.
It was fascinating to read about Galileo's trial for heresy and how he tried to balance his Catholic faith (which meant abiding by the Pope's edicts) and the conflicting scientific observations he made about the sun being the center of the solar system. When science and religion collided, he chose religion, and was still labeled a heretic. The book he wrote that got him into trouble (after being approved by the local clergy editors) was on the list of banned books for nearly 200 years.
This book started off rather dry and I am pretty sure that I DNF'd it.