Rating: 
Summary: Skip this one
Review: Concur with "Reader from Virginia", this is not Sobel's best effort. I'd hazard a guess that her publisher insisted she come out with something (anything) to follow up the buzz from "Longitude" which came out way back in 1995. Read that if you haven't already as it is wonderful but, skip this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent biography, unsustainable gimmick
Review: I was certainly aware, from reading other reviews, that this book is not about Galileo's daughter. It's a decent biography of Galileo. Even so, the use of the letters and the title of the book really seemed like a gimmick. Certainly the fact that Galileo had a talented and devoted daughter deserves to be part of any biography of the great scientist, and the letters add some human interest to his life. Unfortunately, there is just not enough existing information about Suor Maria Celeste to sustain the author's premise. As a result, I felt that the book, particularly the first two-thirds, was trying to do too many things at once and it was unclear to me what the real purpose of it was. The letters were not convincingly integrated with the text and did not shed any real light on Galileo. I did learn quite a bit about Galileo, but I would have preferred a straightforward biography, to which a collection of the letters would make an interesting appendix.
Rating: 
Summary: Galileo's Genius
Review: Although it's title gives the impression the book is a biography of Galileo's daughter Virginia (later Suor Maria Celeste), in reality the book is a luminous biography of Galileo's life. For those who know little of Galileo's life and science, the book is an accessible introduction to the world of a true genius. If you already know Galileo, the book may still surprise you with it's focus on his humanity and kindness to his family. The final mystery is how the Church could have treated a deeply religious and loyal Catholic so shabbily.
Rating:
Summary: filial love and cosmic togetherness
Review: Dava Sobel writes a beautifully crafted book--each word so carefully chosen. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this masterpiece. Congratulations!
Rating:
Summary: Daddy Dearest--The Heretic and His Daughter
Review: For middle-brows like me, this book is great. It gives you just enough history of the Inquisition, just enough biography of Galileo, and then the unique part--the role of an illegitimate daughter (two, actually) ensconced in a convent because of her (their) lack of marriage prospects. Why does this woman, who is obviously bright and articulate, not rebel against the father who arrogated to himself the right to determine the rest of her life? How does she keep her devotion to him so fresh and optimistic, in the midst of what seems like a pretty rotten life? Dava Sobel doesn't answer these questions directly, but there is probably no way to know for sure anyway. I found the book to have enough substance to be fascinating, but not at all ponderous. You'd have to be pretty picky not to like this one. But 5 stars? OK, I'm a sucker for a good yarn--especially a true one.
Rating:
Summary: Dava Sobel has done it again!
Review: Dava Sobel has done it again! "Galileo's Daughter" is a superbly written, sensitively handled and obviously well researched portrait of daily life in 17th Century Italy. It tells the little known story of Suor Marie Celeste Galilei - Galileo's daughter - through her beautifully written and previously untranslated letters. While the book's real focus is on Galileo himself, Sobel's perspective is unique and I can highly recommend the work not only to those interested in the History of Science but to those who simply appreciate a really good story. "Galileo's Daughter" reads like a novel - a real page-turner. It keeps you wanting more right up to the last poignant pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Very human.
Review: Sobel displays again the talent that made Longitude so readable. The great events of the time - political, ecclessiastical and scientific - are presented by a moving portrayal of the people involved. The relationships, doubts, frailties and creativity of Galileo are sympathetically exposed. A great read.
Rating:
Summary: Science and Love
Review: Galileo Galilei is often called the first modern scientist, who only believed facts if they could be verified by experiment. The story of his scientific discoveries and his near fatal conflict with the reactionaries of the inquisition, is both gripping and tragic. But, Dava Sobel adds to it the poignant story of Galileo's relationship with his eldest daughter, Suor Maria Celeste, a nun of the Poor Clare order in a convent outside Florence. Her voice, which comes to us through her letters, is that of a daughter who loved her father deeply, fully understood what he was trying to do and always supported him in his struggles. From her letters, and other documents used by Sobel, (Galileo's own letters were apparently destroyed), we also get a clear picture of the conditions of life in seventeenth century Europe, and of the developing network of intellectuals who contributed to the enlightenment. In addition to the conflict with the church which dominated Galileo's life, he had to cope with several periods during which the plague ravaged the communities in which he lived, and eventually the death from dysentry of his beloved daughter at the age of thirty four. The reader is not only informed but deeply moved by this most humane book
Rating:
Summary: Disappearing Daughter
Review: Don't look too hard for the "life" of Gaileleo's daughter in this otherwise interesting book: it's mainly about Gaileleo, and probably should be, given that his daughter's life seemed grim and uneventful, and her letters not nearly so interesting as one might hope, given the (pre) publicity on the book. The rest of the book is fairly absorbing without her, however, especially for readers that are not already familiar with Gaileleo's genius, work, and subsequent travails with the Catholic Church.
Rating:
Summary: Early feminist in an age of submission
Review: Dava Sobel has written an insightful book about a daughter who pushed the confines of submission to involement in daily life, while accepting the invisible status given to women of her time. This book is as much about father as it is about daughter--without his status this daughter's efforts would not have been recorded. The author blends the scienfitic pursuits of an intelligent father with the humane pursuits of his alturistic daughter. The reader comes away with a clear understanding of the scientific status quo of the time as well as the forces that prevented new concepts. Female readers will understand the implied feminist spirit of this daughter who takes control of life for others: father and her fellow sisters. Those readers more interested in science will gain a greater appreciation for investigation and discovery.
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