Rating: 
Summary: I wish it were worth 5 starts
Review: I really wanted to love this book, and while I did enjoy it, I was dissapointed. As many others have said, _Galileo's_Daughter_ is not about the daughter. But it trys to be. The book in general seems scattered. Showing chronilogically Galileo's scientific life, and throwing in letters from his daughter along the way. It seems to me that Sobel tried to put everything in order of when it happened instead of by subject. For example, A single chaper can go from a discription of the daughter's living conditions, to a discription of Galileo's work on sunspots with no transition. They seem to be together only because Galileo recived a letter from is daughter durring the same month he recieved a letter from a fellow scientist studing sunspots.
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Summary: Just didn't interest me
Review: Somehow, this book just was not as compelling or interesting as Sobel's terriffic "Longitude." Probably this is because of the letter format, which is distancing and rather off-putting.
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Summary: I thought it was about his DAUGHTER!
Review: Yes, Galileo was ahead of his time. He was brilliant, a genius, and a good man to boot. But, the title of the book is "Galileo's Daughter." Yet, only 30-40 percent of the book is about her, and the rest rambles ad nauseum about Galileo's writings, aches & pains, trials & tribulations. I already know about that! His daughter was a fascinating woman, and though much information about her specifically is lost, much information about convent life must exist, and therefore, conjecture could be made and more could have been inferred about what her life must have entailed.
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Chapter of History
Review: Galileo lived in a fascinating time and Sobel works very hard to bring this to life for the reader. At times it is hard to decide if she is writing about Galileo as a person, about his relationship to his daughter, about his scientific work or if she is writing about the lives of nuns in the 1600's or about the scientific and religious ideas of Galileo's time. Nevertheless, she does a pretty good job combining all the elements. This is definitely an interesting examination of the Galileo case that challenges the idea that Galileo planned defy the power of the church. An interesting read to be sure, but not the 'splendid and moving book' the cover claims it to be.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Historical Biography
Review: I listened to this book during a long drive and found it to be engaging, well written, and above all informative. I reccomend this book to anyone who considers themselves a student of history. Simply a wonderful book!
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Summary: What is and isn't
Review: Sobel's biography of Galileo does many things. As a result, it doesn't cover any one of its aspects in tremendous depth, but does do a good job of covering each of them. This also helps make the book more enjoyable to read. A straight up, full frontal discussion of the great scientist's theories on motion would have been tough for a reader not well-versed in math and physics. By contrast, when Sobel talks about Galileo's scientific breakthroughs, it's clear what the subject is, even if some details are left out. It also hits some new territtory in its revealing of Galileo, the person, especially his relationship with his daughter. Her correspondence with him shows a woman of ironclad (almost self-flagellating) faith, devoted love for her father (which he clearly shared) and the two of them as just ordinary folks who worry not only about the movement of earth, but also about the laundry. Galileo is also is shown to have a sense of humor; when fined for not wearing his uniform at university, he circulated a tongue-in-cheek poem asking if clothes were really necessary at all. The book also does a nice job of illuminating Galileo's true greatest feat - changing our definition of "science". In his time, the "natural philosophers" held that the universe was unchanging, that math was useless as a tool to describe the world, and that "if Aristotle said it, it must be true." These concepts are total anathema to science today, thanks largely to Galileo, who disproved them. With due respect, I'd also like to correct a few errors in some other reviews. Galileo's book "A Treatise on the Tides", did indeed try to use the tides to prove that the earth was not stationary in space. But he claimed that it was earth's motion which caused tides, not the Moon. (He was incorrect, as it IS the moon which causes tides. Newton was the one who discovered this.) This is just one example of science as a constantly evolving, self-editing process. Even the great minds - be they Aristotle or Galileo or Newton - could make mistakes. Moreover, it would be wrong to characterize this book as anti-Catholic. There's no denying that the 17th century Church was often tyranic and anti-rational. "Galileo's Daughter" doesn't try to whitewash that. But the Church's persecution of Galileo is shown to not merely be a case of religion vs. science (tho that played a part) but also a personal and political struggle. Nor was the Church a monolithic entity. While Pope Urban VIII pursued Galileo with a vengeance, many churchmen continued to support him, even after his condemnation. For that matter, the book's titular character, who comes off as downright angelic, was a nun. Overall, this is a good read for those interested in science or history.
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Summary: Poignant Love Story
Review: If you are the father of a daughter, and you look forward to a lifetime of love and deep communion with her, you will be touched by this book. If you are a daughter who loves her father, you will be touched even more. A great story.
Rating:
Summary: Not a good choice as audio book, but worth reading
Review: I don't recommend listening to "Galileo's Daughter" as an audiobook--there's far too much flowery detail in the quoted letters, much of which I'd have skimmed in the text. I also found the reader's voice grating, at least for the first half of the book. That might be because the first half of the book is far weaker than the second half--far less detailed than accounts I've read elsewhere of Galileo's early life prior to the publication of his controversial dialogue. The quoted letters from his elder daughter Maria Celeste are rather pedestrian. The second half of the book compensates for these weaknesses. The reader starts to get a sense of Maria Celeste as a real person, and of the nature of her relationship with her father. The focus is still primarily on Galileo, but via Maria Celeste's no-longer-stilted letters and Sobel's writing, there's a view of Galileo that isn't seen in any other biography. Ideally, read this and another of the Galileo biographies recommended by other reviewers. One book is not enough to fully explore all the aspects of this amazing man's life and work.
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Summary: Not as good as Longitude!
Review: Although compelling at times, the story of Galileo as told, partly, through the letters of his daughter were simply not as interesting to me as the story of John Harrison and contained too much of the mundane detail of life in 17th century Italy. This effort, too, seems less carefully edited than Harrison's tale as much of the author's language goes way over the head of the historically uninitiated.
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Summary: Galileo's Daughter, a few friends, enemies, employees ...
Review: As is the case with most books, the benefits that Galileo's Daughter brings to the reader largely have to do with what the reader already knows. In this case, the book has a great deal to offer to somebody whose idea of Galileo is limited to his role as the icon of rationality or as the topic of an Indigo Girls song. It provides a (presumably) competent distillation of the scientist-philosopher's most public accomplishments and conflicts. In this, the author goes overboard with the detail on occasion, especially in the constant references to Galileo's dialogue texts. Still, for the reader who knows little of him, the book is a good place to start. What takes this book beyond the normal popular biography is the additional view of the the astronomer's private life. The letters of Galileo's daughter, written in the night's darkest hours from her convent cell, provice Sobel with an opportunity to explore Galileo's family life, estate management, and other trivial details. By providing us with his daughter's voice, Sobel makes Galileo more human, and less of a symbol. While letting us see Galileo, the family man, Sobel also uses the letters as a chance to explore the political and public issues that helped and hindered Galileo. Church politics, naturally, played a role in Galileo's fate, but so did fears of the plague. Earlier on, as an acadamecian, Galileo could not marry, thus his female offspring were sent to live in a convent. As many have pointed out, Suor Maria Celeste is not the focus of the book: instead, she provides an opportunity to re-examine her father's life. Nor should she be given short shrift: while Sobel documents the devastating effect her death had on Galileo, she was clearly an important asset to her convent, which probably suffered much from her loss. A bit dry and uninvolved in parts, this is still a well-written popular biography of an extremely important figure, but the true value for this book lies in its pictures of daily life.
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