Book # 55 - Galileo’s Daughter

I picked Galileo’s Daughter up for free, along with Longitude and More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionised the Cosmos. Longitude was very interesting, and easy to read. This one was much harder, and moved slower. It’s also from a more ancient (1600s) time, and I think that was part of it.

The book somewhat follows Galileo’s career, but also the life of his daughter, who was cloistered in a nunnery. She was born out of wedlock and at that time, it was very hard to secure a husband for her, so she entered the nunnery. She followed her father’s progress through life as a mathematician and author who came under fire from the church. Along with the narrative of the events, we see a number of letters of hers that survive.

I have to admit I struggled with this book. The first half was very hard to read, and I picked it up and put it down numerous times as I worked on it over months. It’s tough to read, for me at least, but if you’re interested in Galileo and how the church viewed the world, it’s interesting.