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Seller's Description:
New. Galileo has almost become a cliche, a cipher for the debatable war between science and religion. A number of writers have questioned the location of this conventional dichotomy in Galileo's struggles with the Roman Catholic Church, but none so brilliantly as Dava Sobel, through her unassuming story of the relationship between Galileo Galilei and his daughter (one of three illegitimate children), the Claretian nun Marie Celeste. Sobel translates for the first time 124 letters from Sister Marie to her father (the father's responses are apparently forever lost), and around these letters tells the story of Galileo the pious Catholic, trying to reconcile his discoveries with the teachings of his Church. Sobel has her science right, her history right, her storytelling just right. Her attention to the human dimension is the key to a more accurate texturing of a crucial but misunderstood fork in the road to modernity.
The story of Galileo's struggles with the church are nicely balanced by his relationship with his daughter and her own development into a strong woman. There is little drama--even his "trial" is reduced to transcript excerpts--but it it reflects an oddly current duel between science and religion.
myves
Nov 3, 2011
excellent book
This is an excellent book that I enjoy thoughrouly
B
Nov 5, 2010
WOW!
Dava Sobel has written a beautiful biography about Galileo...she masterfully relives the religious and political battles surrounding his findings and discoveries...and his daughter's letters will make you sit back in awe at the beauty of her writings to her father.
