Mario Livio

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: An “intriguing and accessible” (Publishers Weekly) interpretation of the life of Galileo Galilei, one of history’s greatest and most fascinating scientists, that sheds new light on his discoveries and how he was challenged by science deniers. “We really need this story now, because we’re living through the next chapter of science denial” (Bill McKibben).

Galileo’s story may be more relevant today than ever before. At present, we face show more enormous crises—such as minimizing the dangers of climate change—because the science behind these threats is erroneously questioned or ignored. Galileo encountered this problem 400 years ago. His discoveries, based on careful observations and ingenious experiments, contradicted conventional wisdom and the teachings of the church at the time. Consequently, in a blatant assault on freedom of thought, his books were forbidden by church authorities.

Astrophysicist and bestselling author Mario Livio draws on his own scientific expertise and uses his “gifts as a great storyteller” (The Washington Post) to provide a “refreshing perspective” (Booklist) into how Galileo reached his bold new conclusions about the cosmos and the laws of nature. A freethinker who followed the evidence wherever it led him, Galileo was one of the most significant figures behind the scientific revolution. He believed that every educated person should know science as well as literature, and insisted on reaching the widest audience possible, publishing his books in Italian rather than Latin.

Galileo was put on trial with his life in the balance for refusing to renounce his scientific convictions. He remains a hero and inspiration to scientists and all of those who respect science—which, as Livio reminds us in this “admirably clear and concise” (The Times, London) book, remains threatened everyday.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: A concise, well-thought-through biography of Galileo. The point of another biography of him is the present climate od science denial, of skepticism in our social and political realms, about the way science is done–and why it is done that way.

There is much to be taken from an erudite scientist and polymath's recounting of the events of Galileo's life in the specific context of looking at what led him to become a prisoner of conscience, what the men who opposed his dissemination of his discoveries were fighting for and against, and what this battle cost all of society. Author Livio is tendentious, unapologetically so, and presents a perfectly astonishing notes, footnotes, and sources collection for a popular not academic book.

The organization of the book is more thematic than linear. Following the author's arguments is, as expected from a scientist, not hard...being organized is kinda the job description of scientist, after all...but do not expect the chronology of Galileo's life to make an appearance, and go with the logical flow.

Science, being dedicated to the pursuit of facts, often presents its conclusions as Truth...then changes its mind as new evidence comes in. This is a feature, not a bug, in how science works. It conflicts with many people's intense need for Immutable Truth...science is pretty much antithetical to Immutability. This has the sad consquence of people like the church hierarchy is made up of, running head-on into people like Galileo and his fellow scientists as they follow the evidence and the facts in reaching very new conclusions...facts are not Truth. The conclusions based on the facts, new and old, are not Truth. Science is a worldview based on probabilities.

Many people feel this is shifty...dishonest...trying to put one over on them.

This is the conflict that Author Livio is arguing against. He does not use head-on confrontation to do so. Galileo's life, and his conflict with the hierarchy, does most of his heavy lifting. The beauty of his book is that this argument, presented in any other way, leads to deeper entrenchment of anti-science attitudes. By using the life of a well-known and respected scientist from the past, the attitudes that led him into conflict, and how that conflict is now understood, Author Livio uses the back door to find the chinks in the faulty logic used by science deniers.

Great book for your loud old uncle, or your argumentative teen boy, who has Opinions about science with no information to rest them on. Also good for you to read because you will learn more ways to build your counterarguments to the denials of facts to serve that evil illusion, Truth. show less

There is a period in childhood called "the age of why?". There are those who come out of it, their curiosity often dulled by social pressures, and those who never come out of it. But what is curiosity? What does it mean to be curious? Is it true that curiosity diminishes with age and the accumulation of information, or is it true that the more information you accumulate, the more the questions and the desire to know?
Far from answering these questions, in his amusing exploration of curiosity show more and the psychological and biological reasons that support it, Mario Livio does nothing but stimulate new ones in the reader, putting even the laziest reader back on the trail of a healthy desire to know. show less

Non si poteva fare molto di più

In realtà la colpa del voto basso che ho dato al libro non è certo del povero Mario Livio, che ha fatto il possibile e ha anche infarcito il libro di divagazioni. Il guaio è che il rapporto aureo è importante matematicamente, ma ha avuto lo svantaggio di essere stato preso dai new age come numero onnipresente in natura e nell'arte, cosa che non è per nulla vera a meno che non si faccia come nella battuta che afferma che due più due fa tre per un valore show more sufficientemente grande di tre. Il libro è insomma più un'opera di debunking che di matematica vera e propria, il che però dovrebbe renderla più digeribile a chi matematico non è. Peccato che - almeno a un rapido controllo - la traduzione italiana BUR sia fuori commercio. show less

this is interesting, but not quite as tied in to today's issues as i'd hoped it would be. still, galileo's life and work is fascinating and so this is almost automatically going to therefore be compelling as far as the science goes. i'm not sure how much new information this book holds about galileo; as the author himself rightly states early on, there are already a *lot* of books out there on the man and his work. i haven't read any of them so i can't compare, but this felt quite general show more and it didn't feel at all like he was presenting new information. i'd assumed that his "new" twist would be to draw forceful comparisons to the religious science deniers of galileo's time and the science deniers (religious and not) of today. livio often uses the last couple of sentences in chapters to make these points, but until the very end of the book, doesn't take it further. this, to me, is disappointing. still, the rest is interesting and as i haven't read other biographies of galileo, found it fresh enough. i doubt, though, that there is much in here for readers who are already pretty knowledgeable about galileo and his work.

"[He] 'did not think that the same God who has given us our senses, reason, and intelligence wished us to abandon their use.' Simply put, Galileo argued that when an apparent conflict arises between scripture and what experience and demonstration establish about nature, scripture has to be reinterpreted in an alternative way."

"The individualist attitude was very different from the values inherited from the ancient Greek philosophy in which people were considered primarily members of the larger community, rather than individuals. Plato's The Republic... aimed to define and help construct a superior society, not a better person."

"...in the Milky Way galaxy, the solar system itself isn't central at all. It is almost two thirds of the way out, literally in the galaxy's remote suburbs."

"...to a large extent the objection to Copernicanism had much less to do with the actual cosmological model - the church was not particularly interested in which planetary orbits astronomers preferred to use - and more with what some Catholics and Church officers in particular regarded as an unwelcome intrusion of scientists into theology."

"No other single event [Galileo's trial] represented as clearly the clash between scientific reasoning and religious authority, and its reverberations are felt even today."

"Today the phrase 'and yet it moves' has become a symbol of intellectual defiance, implying that in spite of what you believe, these are the facts." show less