Rating: 
Summary: A complete memoir
Review: I thought this would be historical fiction, a novel, and when its turn came to read, and I picked it up to figure out what it was, I got really excited about what I was about to learn. Inside the front cover, it reads, "Inspired by a long fascination with Galileo, and by the remarkable surviving letters of Galileo's daughter, a cloistered nun, Dava Sobel has written a biography unlike any other of the man Albert Einstein called "the father of modern physics -- indeed of modern science altogher." I noted the diagrams and illustrations of the people, Galileo's equations and inventions.
But what I didn't anticipate was the kind of learning I would be exposed to and how moving the book would be. It turned out to be one of the best books I've ever read, incorporating so many facets in a well-written memoir that challenged and fulfilled.
Of course, I learned quite a bit about the advance of understanding of science and the universe from the story of Galileo's life. His father wanted him to be a physician, but he preferred mathematics and matriculated at the University in Pisa. From there, he took various positions in Italy, eventually ending up as court philosopher and mathematician for the Medici family in Florence. Under their patronage, he was able to maintain the income of a professorship in another city without having to show up to teach. He invented tools to supplement his income, and had three children with a woman he didn't marry, two daughters and a son. The daughters he placed in a convent in Florence, thinking they would be unlikely to marry due to their illegitimacy (apparently, scholars often remained unmarried), and the son he eventually legitimized through a church action. Sobel writes of the progression of Galileo's understanding of the universe after procuring a telescope and modifying it to improve his vision of the sky. He also concentrated heavily on the laws of motion.
Galileo was deeply religious and deeply devoted to the Catholic Church; he was also "connected" through his work as court philosopher for the Medicis in Florence. Though the pope who preceded Urban VIII was not a friend to Galileo and resisted Galileo's advancement of Copernicus's theory of the sun as the center of the universe, rather than the earth, Urban VIII knew Galileo, and the mathematician was able to have an audience with him soon after he ascended to the office. (Though this relationship would have to submit in the end to Urban's declining political position and would not save Galileo from the inquisitors.)
What emerges here is the incredible control over the minds of its subjects the Catholic church enjoyed/enforced in Italy in the 1500s and 1600s. While those Catholics outside Italy were more likely to dispense with papal orders, those within Italy lived in a society structured to control them rigorously. Loyal Galileo, while writing his Dialogue that sought to educate readers on the various theories of the movement of the universe, submitted his work to official inquisitors, the pope's advisers, etc., and willingly changed what they instructed him to out of deference to the church.
The daughter of this book's title is Virginia, whose name became Maria Celeste when she took her vows as a Poor Clare in her convent near Florence. Her younger sister also took vows at the convent, but was not close to her father, and was an unwilling, whining, hypochondriacal nun. In this book, Suor Maria Celeste's 100-plus letters to her father are translated and published for the first time in English, inserted into the narrative in response to events Sobel is reporting in Galileo's life. The letters are sweet and respectful, and show Maria Celeste's dependence on her father for resources as well as her willingness to do for him. She mixed him remedies in the convent's pharmacy, cooked sweets for him and rewrote his manuscripts for him as asked. The two could only visit through a grill at the convent, as Maria Celeste could never leave the grounds, but her letters (his to her did not survive) show a doting, close and mutually rewarding relationship between Galileo and his older daughter.
The book brings to life the daily routines and realities of early 17th century life in Italy, as Sobel makes real what life would be like without clocks, long difficult journeys, onlsaughts of the plague and political intrigues at the Vatican and the local inquisitors'. These tangential explanations, along with the recounting of Galileo's trial in Rome for his DIALOGUE, and his personal and religious sadness over being listed on the church's Index of Prohibited Books, and his daughter's responses and caretaking love of her father, make Galileo a real man, rather than an ancient archetype or a note on a timeline. We see what his questioning intellect cost him and the pleasure and sustenance he derived from his close relationship with his loving and faithful daughter.
The final pages of the book contain such a moving and tender apotheosis of the relationship between Galileo and Suor Maria Celeste. While the book was fabulous, the ending was fulfilling in a wholly unexpected way. I'm grateful for this book, for all I learned from it, and for all I came to understand.
Rating: 
Summary: As the World Turns: The Drama of Galileo
Review: I've spent that last three months in a class learning about Galileo so this book was just one more in a long list of required reading. It is a fairly accurate history of Galileo's life although it is heavily biased in Galileo's favor making the complexity of his issues with the church a bit more black and white than it actually was. However, unlike other books about Galileo, Sobel focuses on his daily life and personal relationships- particularly on that with his eldest daughter Suor Maria Celeste. This adds a whole new dimension to his story and reveals a lot about his motivations and influences. There is quite a bit of sensationalism but I can't say I didn't appreciate it as the subject can become dry after three months. It is not the type of novel I expected complete with fictional dialogue and the like- it is more of a novelesque history and biography. Nevertheless, it was still very interesting and informative. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the more personal side of Galileo's life or to anyone who is looking for an informative and entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Assessment of Galileo's Time
Review: Being a history buff, I found this book fascinating. The author wrote the book in such a way that I could vividly imagine the times, the buildings, the scenery... that alone was enough to keep me reading. The evidence of Galileo's brilliance was extraordinary. I was also struck by the politics of the time and the influence of the Pope. I'll admit that I did not know much about Galileo beyond what had been touched on in basic science classes from a long time ago. I was amazed to learn about all that Galileo invented or improved upon. Not only was he very intelligent, he was very politically savvy. I did not know what he had gone through to bring his theory of the Earth orbiting the Sun to light. I was very impressed with his amazing dedication to his science, experiments and to his ever expanding views of the world. This is book most history lovers would enjoy, although it is written in such a way that you don't feel that you're studying for an exam.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Worth The Trouble
Review: This little time-waster is about as interesting to read as the telephone book. Ms. Sobel's claim that many "intelligent" women ... entered convents so they could write and have "status" in society is offensive to the droves of women who served the Church unselfishly for centuries, most of whom lived below the poverty level. This book goes on and on for pages, cramping, straining, to make a point, and comes to no satisfying conclusion. Disappointing, very disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating...yet disappointing
Review: The premise for the book is Sobel's new translation of letters to Galileo from his eldest daughter Virginia, a cloistered nun who adopted the name Sister Maria Celeste and who was, on the evidence of her correspondence, an extraordinary person in her own right. The letters themselves are, as advertised, poignant, and in the mutual devotion they illustrate between father and daughter they help to soften the historian's view of Galileo as a brilliant but insufferably egocentric blusterer. But in the absence of Galileo's side of the correspondence, which has not survived, they shed little or no light on the historically momentous confrontation on which the book is focused. Sobel has filled out her narrative with a well-crafted but ultimately unedifying story of the major events of Galileo's dispute with the Church. A more recent book that sheds more light on Galileo's genius and his relationships that I greatly enjoyed is Wade Rowland's Galileo's Mistake.
Rating:
Summary: Through a lens, darkly...
Review: Dava Sobel's fascinating book, 'Galileo's Daughter', is an historical text, but done in a wonderfully innovative manner. 'Galileo's daughter, born of his long illicit liaison with the beautiful Marina Gamba of Venice, entered the world in the summer heat of a new century, on August 13, 1600--the same year the Dominican friar Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome for insisting, among his many heresies and blasphemies, that the Earth traveled around the sun, instead of remaining motionless at the centre of the universe. In a world that did not yet know its place, Galileo would engage this same cosmic conflict with the Church, treading a dangerous path between the Heaven he revered as a good Catholic and the heavens he revealed through his telescope.' This daughter, christened Virginia, but taking the name Maria Celeste at the convent to which she was remanded, was an intellectual, well versed in the matters which made her father controversial, and, luckily for historians, a frequent correspondent with many around Galileo. This book chronicles, with reliance upon Sister Maria Celeste's correspondence as well as a prodigious amount of supporting material, Galileo's struggle to be faithful and obedient both to the call of the Church and the call of scientific truth. In this we see not a militant revolutionary or a man bent on defiance and rebellion, as Galileo is so oft cast, but as a solitary man, an often lonely man, engaged in strenuous effort to be prayerful and concerned for all. Galileo held many positions of teaching and research in his life. His output of written work was extensive, much of which no longer exists. His daughter likewise produced much, of which only her letters remain. Galileo produced works on mathematics (often with practical, i.e., military, emphasis), astronomy, and philosophy (the dividing line between these fields being rather hard to maintain during the Renaissance). Galileo shared the stage roughly with Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler; Isaac Newton was born the year of Galileo's death. Alas, part of Galileo's problem was a political miscalculation. While Pope Urban VIII was a man personally known to him (Galileo had demonstrated the telescope to him some time before his ascension to the lofty heights of Roman hierarchy), and known to be an intellectually interested and astute man, he nonetheless had political and dogmatic concerns (and, perhaps as important, other powerful people surrounding him with such concerns) that he could not ignore. 'When Galileo's book arrived in Rome in the summer of 1632, Urban could take no time to read it. Anonymous advisers judged it for him, however, as an egregious insult. Galileo's enemies in Rome, whose number was legion, saw the Dialogue as a scandalous glorification of Copernicus. And the pope, already loudly accused of flagging Catholic zeal on the battlefronts of Europe, could not allow a new affront to go unpunished.' Not long after his censure from the papal commission, Galileo lost his eyesight, and, despite being published outside Italy, still chose to remain close to family and Church in Italy. Galileo's work was seen not only as a blight on his intellectual pursuit, but as a personal flaw, and the commission passed judgement 'on his book and his person'. Galileo was sentenced to prison (actually, he could have been burned at the stake, the preferred method for dealing with heretical challengers of the Church's worldview), but this was softened by friends who saw to it his terms of imprisonment were spent in bishopric and ambassadorial accommodations. 'The Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican' was listed on the next Index of Prohibited books, in 1664, where it would remain listed for almost 200 years. Of course, the Vatican made headlines throughout the 1990s by re-opening the case of Galileo and finding 'faults', in fact, that 'a tragic mutual incomprehension has been interpreted as the reflection of a fundamental opposition between science and faith'. Too little too late? Perhaps. This book is a wonderful recast of the standard history on Galileo, seen primarily through the admittedly biased view of his beloved and loving daughter.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful way to pass the time
Review: Disguising itself as a novel when it is in reality a font of historical, astronomical, and theological information, Galileo's Daughter is well written and full of interesting pieces of information. This book is not to be taken lightly, but be aware that is is also difficult to put down. Be prepared to restructure your beliefs about the man who challenged the church for the sake of knowledge and was immortalized not only on paper but in popular music. (Yes, the song really is about him!)
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps mistitled
Review: Although this book does mention Galileo's daughter, Maria Celeste quite often, it tells rather less of her life than it does of her more famous father's. Admittedly, the sources for Maria are scarce, but perhaps a slightly different angle could have been found for the book. This single problem aside, this book was rather well written. I enjoyed reading about Galileo's life in the context of the changes in the church, social issues (such as the plague) and so forth. I haven't read much else about Galileo, so this was quite an eye opener. I would not recommend this book as an in-depth look at Maria Celeste, but if you want to learn about Galileo himself, check this book out.
Rating:
Summary: A flowing but scarcely significant reading
Review: In spite of the title, which could have denoted a more specific subject, the book deals mainly about Galileo's events, told in the way anybody knows. The life of Galileo's daughter would have been a very interesting opportunity to exam this issue from a quite different perspective. This opportunity vanishes yet in the first chapters, and the tale of Suor Maria Celeste (the name she got as a nun) becomes a mere translation of her letters collected by Galileo. Besides, you can hardly find something new even among them. That facilitated history (tabloid-like) flows easily, but it lacks of reality: you can hardly believe that Galileo'daughter accepted so willingly the fate her father decided when she was a child. Surely a not remarkable book for people who have yet read something about the subject, but that can be very useful to High School students.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, but not an easy read
Review: A wonderful exploration of history, science, religion, and love. The entire book is based on letters written to Galileo by his illegitimage daughter, a nun. When he was questioned by the Inquisition, the convent destroyed his letters to his daughter for fear of a stain on the convent itself - so his replies must be assumed from her references to them.
The difficult part of the book is the careful translation done in the archaic and overly polite language of the times, which makes for heavy going and loooong wordy passages at times.
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