Open your ears; for which of you will stop The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks?
The story of Galileo's life as he struggles against the Catholic church in his quest for scientific knowledge. He is helped in his task, by the unwavering support of his loving daughter, Sour Maria Celeste.
I thought this book would be the story of Sour Maria Celeste and her relationship to her father. Whilst touching on the work of Galileo, I expected a lot more of the personal life of his daughter. However, Sour Maria Celeste was confined to a convent at the age of 13 and such a book would not have been fulfilling. Instead it is the story of Galileo himself, his work and his religion. On the whole, it is a better book than I was expecting.
The only way we see the relationship between Galileo and his daughter is through the letters they wrote each other. Part of the reason that Sour Maria Celeste plays such a small part in the book is that we only get half the correspondence between them. For whatever reason, the letters that Galileo sent have been lost. When the two lived close together, it is as if a shroud has been placed over the readers head as Galileo visits his daughter instead of writing to her.
More interesting is the battle between science and religion. This is both an external and internal struggle for Galileo. It wasn't apparent to me before reading this book, but Galileo was a deeply religious man. Not only did he have to fight the authorities, he had to fight his own beliefs. Clearly, the internal struggle was the easier one as he was able to realign his views based on his new findings.
Galileo was also adept socially. He was able to manipulate and befriend a number of sympathetic people in the Catholic church to enable is book to be published. However, it was because he had managed to gain a number of high-powered enemies at the same, that his book was bought to the attention of the church as was banned. It was only result of a (false?) repentance that Galileo wasn't killed for his beliefs. Even when, he is finally imprisoned for his crimes, he is able to turn it to his advantage and remained under house arrest in very pleasant surroundings.
The end of the book returns to the title of the story as with a poignant moment, Galileo's body is finally allowed to be placed under a fitting monument for someone who was the "father of modern scientific thinking". Alongside his body is the unnamed skeleton of a young woman. It is his daughter.
This book is not exactly a page turner. It slowed in the middle part of the book that dealt mainly with his daughter. Read if you are interested in science history and its relation to the church, or the works of Galileo.
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