Kepler : A novel (Vintage International)

Rating:
Summary: Increidible and interesting
Review: I love this book from start to finish. It is a little know book about Kepler and the trials and tribulations he had to endure in his dogmatic era. The workings of brilliance shine forth in this novel. A must for history lovers also.

Rating:
Summary: Increidible and interesting
Review: I love this book from start to finish. It is a little know book about Kepler and the trials and tribulations he had to endure in his dogmatic era. The workings of brilliance shine forth in this novel. A must for history lovers also.

Rating:
Summary: The Music of the Spheres
Review: John Banville takes his astonomical fiction "Doctor Copernicus" to the next stage in "Kepler." Both books are powerful feats of the imagination, in which Banville attempts to re-create that curious and pregnant stage in history when the medieval world was giving way to the first stirrings of modernity. Amid the tumult of the Thirty Years War, which would have have such a large impact on the future of Europe and indeed the entire world, an equally momentous change was taking place in the sciences. Alchemy and astrology still rule, but the natural sciences and astronomy are gradually coming into their own. Johannes Kepler builds on the insights of Copernicus and the observations of Tycho Brahe to create new theories of planetary motion that reinforce and are themselves strengthened by the work of Galileo. Banville has created a multi-dimensioned work, part picaresque, part epistolary novel, part flashback, in which Kepler struggles past politics, religious discord, family distractions and war to seek out the celestial harmonies that he is convinced are there for the discovering. "Kepler" is not the greatest of Banville's novels, but that still makes it a very good one indeed.

Rating:
Summary: The Music of the Spheres
Review: John Banville takes his astonomical fiction "Doctor Copernicus" to the next stage in "Kepler." Both books are powerful feats of the imagination, in which Banville attempts to re-create that curious and pregnant stage in history when the medieval world was giving way to the first stirrings of modernity. Amid the tumult of the Thirty Years War, which would have have such a large impact on the future of Europe and indeed the entire world, an equally momentous change was taking place in the sciences. Alchemy and astrology still rule, but the natural sciences and astronomy are gradually coming into their own. Johannes Kepler builds on the insights of Copernicus and the observations of Tycho Brahe to create new theories of planetary motion that reinforce and are themselves strengthened by the work of Galileo. Banville has created a multi-dimensioned work, part picaresque, part epistolary novel, part flashback, in which Kepler struggles past politics, religious discord, family distractions and war to seek out the celestial harmonies that he is convinced are there for the discovering. "Kepler" is not the greatest of Banville's novels, but that still makes it a very good one indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Progression From ¿Dr. Copernicus¿
Review: John Banville's, "Dr. Copernicus", was excellent in its entirety, and sections of the work were exceptional. "Kepler" which is a sequel in a Historical sense, may not match the former for its consistency of excellence, however it is still a very good novel, it takes the work of Copernicus another step, and is a piece of work that is 5 star material when compared to much of contemporary writing. The four star ranking is only relative to, "Dr. Copernicus".

The idea of whether these early stargazers believed their work documented truth or merely supported what they observed is taken a step further with Kepler and his work. When Kepler and his peers were working, mathematical proof was becoming the essence of what they would eventually publish. Work that appeared to explain what was seen was no longer enough, proving it to oneself and one's peers was the new test. One of the great enigmas that Kepler sought to solve was the orbit of Mercury. His findings were to change the Copernican view of the Universe, while Galileo was extending the very reach of it.

The science, and the math employed are raised a couple of steps from the previous novel, and are part of why I liked this work less. Understanding complex ideas should not be brought down to such simplistic levels so that no effort to understand is required, and whatever is learned is of little use as it relates to the true and complete idea. I always enjoy a writer that can explain complex theory in a manner that allows an inquisitive mind to be challenged, and the science enjoyed. In "Kepler", this did not happen the majority of the time. So the reader must just take on faith what is said, or study some pretty advanced geometry.

"Kepler" also does not have characters that gain your empathy, and at times you may struggle to find them interesting. Money, position, prestige, all conspire to intrude upon the greater goals, and I found them distracting. However the treatment of the Church and the Schism, and the effect on Kepler and his work, was very well done, interesting, and demonstrated the Church's constant interference with the scientists they were terrified of, for their work would undermine the Church's long taught fictions.

Mr. Banville is a writer of remarkable skill. I am reading the fourth of his books, and the quality of writing, his skill with a pen is never an issue. How he presents his story may or may not be enjoyable to a given reader, but all will appreciate the skill with which he writes.

Rating:
Summary: infinite theories to fit finite data -> the spiralling in
Review: Kepler experienced, on the most personal level, the difference between astrology and astronomy. His initial theories, based on geometry but not yet algebraically sensible, seemed to fit the amazingly-accurate measurements of Tycho Brahe, but there was a deeper elegance to discover in the elliptical orbits. Since infinite theories fit any finite set of experimental data points, and science (as Popper observed) "tells us when we're wrong but never when we're right", any lack of rigor or verification leads the scientist into numerological games in search of elegance whenever he lacks peer pressure to force him to real rigor. Banville's Kepler spirals in to the ellipse in an incredible chaos of personal stress, forced to rigor by the many competing theories of existence that seem to dominate his own psyche and the fate of his family. He never abandons his own quest for personal truth, even as the personality of the planets is revealed to be as mathematically simple as any clockwork. In the end, his process is himself, repeatable only in the mathematical sense, never in the experience.

The "spiralling in", as dozens of irrational but elegant theories battle for attention, on the way to the single simplest almost-obvious truth, will be familiar to anyone who has done basic science. The search for truth through personal chaos will be familiar to anyone who has ever had a family!