Galileo's Daughter

From AwardAnnals

Jump to: navigation, search
Book:

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love

Author: Dava Sobel
Honors:
Genres:
Publisher: Walker & Company
Inspired by her long fascination with Galileo, and by the remarkable surviving letters of his daughter, which Sobel has translated into English for the first time, Galileo’s Daughter is a book of great originality and power, a biography unlike any ever written on Galileo. Sobel, the author of the bestseller Longitude, brings Galileo to life as never before-boldly compelled to explain the truths he discovered, human in his frailties and faith, devoted to family, especially to his eldest daughter.

The voices of Galileo and his daughter, Suor Maria Celeste, echo down the centuries through letters and writings, which Sobel masterfully weaves into her narrative, building toward the crescendo of history’s most dramatic collision between science and religion. In the process, she illuminates an entire era, when the flamboyant Medici grand dukes became Galileo’s patrons, when the bubonic plague wreaked its terrible devastation and prayer was the most effective medicine, when the Thirty Years’ War tipped fortunes across Europe, and when one man fought, through his trial and betrayal by his former friend, Pope Urban VIII, to reconcile the Heaven he revered as a good Catholic with the heavens he revealed thorough his telescope. An unforgettable story, Galileo’s Daughter is a stunning achievement. With forty black-and-white illustrations.

Find it:
Long description (1358 characters) will be truncated in honor rolls.

Reviews

Amazon.com

Everyone knows that Galileo Galilei dropped cannonballs off the leaning tower of Pisa, developed the first reliable telescope, and was convicted by the Inquisition for holding a heretical belief—that the earth revolved around the sun. But did you know he had a daughter? In Galileo’s Daughter, Dava Sobel (author of the bestselling Longitude) tells the story of the famous scientist and his illegitimate daughter, Sister Maria Celeste. Sobel bases her book on 124 surviving letters to the scientist from the nun, whom Galileo described as “a woman of exquisite mind, singular goodness, and tenderly attached to me.” Their loving correspondence revealed much about their world: the agonies of the bubonic plague, the hardships of monastic life, even Galileo’s occasional forgetfulness (“The little basket, which I sent you recently with several pastries, is not mine, and therefore I wish you to return it to me”).

While Galileo tangled with the Church, Maria Celeste—whose adopted name was a tribute to her father’s fascination with the heavens—provided moral and emotional support with her frequent letters, approving of his work because she knew the depth of his faith. As Sobel notes, “It is difficult today … to see the Earth at the center of the Universe. Yet that is where Galileo found it.” With her fluid prose and graceful turn of phrase, Sobel breathes life into Galileo, his daughter, and the earth-centered world in which they lived. —Sunny Delaney

— — — — — — — Retrieved from "http://www.awardannals.com/wiki/Galileo%27s_Daughter", Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:53:26 GMT — — — — — — —
  • A WikiPresto Site
  • Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike


Book Genres Best of…
Action/Adventure
Biography recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Children's recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Criticism
Drama
Fantasy recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Fiction recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
History recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Horror recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Mystery/Suspense recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Nonfiction recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Poetry
Romance
Science Fiction recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Science/Technology
Speculative Fiction recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Sports
Western
Young Adult recent 2000s 1990s 1980s
Film Genres

Action/Adventure

Animation

Biography

Children's

Comedy

Documentary

Drama

Fantasy

History

Horror

Musical

Mystery/Suspense

Romance

Romantic Comedy

Science Fiction

Science/Technology

Speculative Fiction

Sports

Western

Music Genres

Blues

Children's

Classical

Country

Dance

Folk

Jazz

Pop

Rap/Hip-Hop

Rock

Rythm & Blues

Soundtrack