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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I would like to finish this book because it is very interesting, but it's not compelling enough for me to keep reading at the moment. Too many books, not enough time. And I'd rather read something that draws me right into it (yeah, escapism, I know) at the moment. Too much thinking required for my study to want to think with leisure reading.
Having said that, I would like to return to this book in the future, so I'll note that I'm up to Chpater VIII (page 85 in this version).
Having said that, I would like to return to this book in the future, so I'll note that I'm up to Chpater VIII (page 85 in this version).
This is a book about the history of science and the relationship between science and other social/cultural forces, like religion. Given that we live in a time when many people deny climate change and evolution and don't want science taught in school, it's important to consider that some truths that we accept as givens actually were a long time in coming. In this case, Galileo's proof of the Copernican theory that the Earth was not stationary took years to demonstrate and write up and then about 200 years to be accepted. I appreciate that the book gave me a sense of the times Galileo lived in. The clergy were well-educated on science, but their own political ambitions often clouded judgment and action. What Galileo was able to prove became the foundation for physics and a myriad of breakthroughs. He did it with limited resources. He also had some inaccurate ideas about many things, like sunspots and comets.
As many other reviewers have said, the book title in misleading. It's not really about his daughter. Because of the focus on his family/personal life, we do get insight into norms of the time. He didn't marry the mother of his children which meant his daughters had to become nuns. Illegitimate women couldn't marry. But the author does not explore the gender dynamics of the day. We have no idea what wasted talents the daughter had, if any. There is a focus on the letters one daughter wrote to Galileo. But Sobel accepts the language in the letters at face value. They use flowery, excessive language of love and devotion to the father, as well as subservience. Based on this, Sobel concludes the daughter was devoted to the father. But we don't know how much of this is convention and how much true emotion. She may have just been writing like that to get monetary support. Her life was extremely limited by the convent, so her connection with Galileo was one of her only diversions. We have no idea if she resented his behavior. Despite the title, this is NOT a book about the daughter and it's certainly not about gender. There were Lots of possibilities to explore in this vein, which were left untouched.
I listened to the audio version read by George Guidall. He sounded like a VERY stuffy Walter Pidgeon. Had his voice not been translating the words, I think I would have enjoyed the book more.
As many other reviewers have said, the book title in misleading. It's not really about his daughter. Because of the focus on his family/personal life, we do get insight into norms of the time. He didn't marry the mother of his children which meant his daughters had to become nuns. Illegitimate women couldn't marry. But the author does not explore the gender dynamics of the day. We have no idea what wasted talents the daughter had, if any. There is a focus on the letters one daughter wrote to Galileo. But Sobel accepts the language in the letters at face value. They use flowery, excessive language of love and devotion to the father, as well as subservience. Based on this, Sobel concludes the daughter was devoted to the father. But we don't know how much of this is convention and how much true emotion. She may have just been writing like that to get monetary support. Her life was extremely limited by the convent, so her connection with Galileo was one of her only diversions. We have no idea if she resented his behavior. Despite the title, this is NOT a book about the daughter and it's certainly not about gender. There were Lots of possibilities to explore in this vein, which were left untouched.
I listened to the audio version read by George Guidall. He sounded like a VERY stuffy Walter Pidgeon. Had his voice not been translating the words, I think I would have enjoyed the book more.
Fascinating biography of Galileo including his relationship with his daughter, a Poor Clare nun. I learned a lot about Galileo that I had not previously known. Amazingly researched, using still intact letters from the daughter to her father.
Not about Galileo’s daughter, though it does mention her from time to time.
Pretty interesting. Would have liked to hear more about the life of his daughter, and parts of the book were fairly dry, but I enjoyed it.
This is probably one of the best books I've read for a long time, both in subject matter and in writing.
The title is something of misnomer as the narrative of the book follows the life of the scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). That’s OK. He led an interesting life even if it ended sadly.
The daughter of the title, born out of wedlock in 1600 to Marina Gamba and Galileo, was named Virginia. Galileo decided both she and her younger sister were “unmarriageable” because of their illegitimacy and had them enter a convent as teen-agers where they stayed for the rest of their lives. Virginia took the religious name Maria Celeste--an appropriate name, given where Galileo was peering. Livia took the name Arcangela. A younger son was declared legitimate by fiat, later married and had a family.
Suor Maria Celeste’s letters from 1623 to 1633 (roughly five month before her death) to her father survived among Galileo’s effects, but none of his letters to her have survived. Author Dava Sobel states that they were apparently burned or buried by the mother abbess after her cell was cleaned out following her death in 1634 because of the stain of heresy that surrounded Galileo, who was by this time under house arrest for advocating the idea that the earth rotates the sun.
Please read full review here
The title is something of misnomer as the narrative of the book follows the life of the scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). That’s OK. He led an interesting life even if it ended sadly.
The daughter of the title, born out of wedlock in 1600 to Marina Gamba and Galileo, was named Virginia. Galileo decided both she and her younger sister were “unmarriageable” because of their illegitimacy and had them enter a convent as teen-agers where they stayed for the rest of their lives. Virginia took the religious name Maria Celeste--an appropriate name, given where Galileo was peering. Livia took the name Arcangela. A younger son was declared legitimate by fiat, later married and had a family.
Suor Maria Celeste’s letters from 1623 to 1633 (roughly five month before her death) to her father survived among Galileo’s effects, but none of his letters to her have survived. Author Dava Sobel states that they were apparently burned or buried by the mother abbess after her cell was cleaned out following her death in 1634 because of the stain of heresy that surrounded Galileo, who was by this time under house arrest for advocating the idea that the earth rotates the sun.
Please read full review here
I wish the book had focused more on Virginia Galilei aka Suor Maria Celeste (Galileo's daughter) and a little less about just Galileo, but overall the book was very interesting, a surprisingly quick read, and I learned a lot reading it!
I may have read this before but I’m not sure I made it all the way through. There is a lot to like in this book— Galileo’s ingenious experiments, his painstaking attempts to stay on the “right” side of the Copernican debate despite clearly seeing the flaws of the Inquisition’s edict, his loving and close relationship with his cloistered daughter who made him gifts, wrote his manuscripts and cared for his property in his absence. However the book itself grows tedious in places and the letters from Suor Maria Celeste can be a bit mundane as everyday letters are. I appreciated this deep dive into Galileo’s adult life and how he ended up on the Inquisition’s “naughty” list despite egregious efforts to avoid doing so. My primary purpose in reading was to judge having my son read it for school next year but I think we will pass. I’m sure there are other bios that would fit the bill without quite as many words.
Fascinating account of Galileo's life.....so much I never knew about him!