Galileo

The author of this book has written on the relations between science and the Roman Catholic Church, as well as being general editor of The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science, and is therefore exceptionally well-placed for a comprehensive study of Galileo. This book has rightly been hailed as a masterpiece surpassing all previous biographies of Galileo, reconstructing as it does his private, intellectual and cultural life in the context of late Renaissance Italy. The reader learns about Galileo's extraordinary capacity, not only in physics and mathematics but also in music and poetry. The author characterises Galileo as a critic with exquisite taste, but whose success meant that he became more tempestuous and less diplomatic in later life, leading to his famous confrontation with the Church. It was his writings on the telescope in 1610 that launched him into the public eye. The book gives a much more nuanced understanding of Galileo and his life and times and will surely achieve the status of a definitive work. Anyone wanting to know more about Galileo need look no further.