“When I first purchased this book by tele-order, it was on the recommendation of a mailing list. Interested as I am in science, and especially in astronomy, I thought that this might prove to be an interesting account of a person who, I knew beforehand, had been investigated by and sentenced by the Pope's Inquisition to virtual house-arrest for the rest of his life on Earth. However, I was totally unprepared to read the byline of the story and its real meaning: A story of Faith, Belief and Love, it said.
As I read on, I was transported into a world of which I knew next to nothing. This is not merely a telling of the relations between Galileo and his stepdaughter Virginia, known later as Sour Maria Celeste after she took vows as a nun. Nor was this a recitation or a display of the letters that were regularly exchanged between father and daughter.
It was all this, and much more. It has been one of the most enlightening and educative book ever read by me. Dava Sobel is not just any chronicler. She is an accomplished writer who writes with her heart and her pen rolled into one! You can see that she has done a lot of research and delved deep into the life of not just Galileo but all the central as well as peripheral characters of the story.
She begins like any historian, charting out the family tree and showing us the coat of arms of the Galilei family. Then, just as we begin to get worried that this will turn out to be a historical account without any spirit, she takes us on a ride that is fast, unforgettable, full of interesting anecdotes and quotes to kill for, and soon launches the big one: the letters that Sour Maria Celeste wrote to Galileo. Through the letters, and an account of what else was happening in 17th Century Italy, Sobel informs, entertains and enlightens us about the working of the Roman Catholic Church, the Court of the Papal Inquisition, the scientific exploits of Galileo and his contemporaries, the munificence and the generosity of the Nobles of the European countries, the immense love and care of a father towards his step-daughter (and the sacrifices he made for her well-being all the time), the spirited fight of a sextuagenerian scientist and his ultimate humbling before the might of the Church, his loneliness and his helplessness in the face of having to accept a falsehood as Truth and having to publicly denounce Truth as a Lie ....
I could go on and on about this fantastic book, but all I will say is this: do buy it and read it at leisure. Especially do not miss the final line of the book. If you don't cry there, you can ask me to change my name.
I guarantee you all a great read!!”
Taher K wrote this review Monday, March 3 2008.
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