As always happens when I read one of KSR's novels, about half-way through I find myself wishing that he wrote shorter books. [b:Galileo's Dream|6391377|Galileo's Dream|Kim Stanley Robinson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303142224s/6391377.jpg|6579805] also suffers from stitching two very different stories into one novel. The bulk of the book is a biography of Galileo; it is interspersed with a story set in the Jovian system in the far future. The two just don't mesh well. And not being familiar with Galileo's life, I'm not sure how much liberty Robinson took with events and facts (especially given that the plot hinges on whether or not history can be changed). But assuming he took none of import, then Galileo was an even greater genius than most of us have been taught. So perhaps reading a biography might be in order. ( )

An entertaining read, overall.

I give it three stars because I found the "future" portion of the plot (without giving away too much!) flat; it just did not engage me. The story of Galileo's life was well enough told, but a decent (semi fictional) biography is not what I signed up for :)

If you are unfamiliar with Galileo's life, or only know the bare-bones, you might get more out of this; for me, three stars. ( )

(...)

Galileo’s Dream shows two main things about science, and both have to do with science as a weak force.

The first weakness is the fact that science still hasn’t grasped reality in full. The book is a call for epistemic humility, and, while a love song to reality and trying to understand reality with our senses and our rational powers, it is also a love song to the ultimate mystery & unknowability of reality.

(...)

The second weakness is science’s inadequacy to deal with power and politics.

(...)

So indeed, science is no miracle worker, and this novel isn’t perfect either. At times it drags a bit, and its quirkiness won’t be for everyone. But again Robinson shows to be a humanist, writing insightful about characters and reality and feelings and history and being alive. Even though “consciousness is solitary”, via his books – truly a coherent oeuvre if ever there was one – Robinson manages time and time again to share something of real value.

Full review on Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It ( )

A great feature of this book is its full biography of Galileo; I presume to be accurate. He is depicted as the father of modern science whose findings and support for Copernican astronomy brought him into conflict with religious authorities. The science fiction element has Galileo transported to the moons of Jupiter in the far distant future where his fate in his struggle with the church is seen as a means to resolve a conflict between inhabitants of Ganymede and Europa. The Jovians have perceived that in the sea of Europa (and later on Jupiter) there is a sort of sentience that is of great importance to their existence. Their dispute is over what to do to understand this sentient being more fully. This part of the story is quite complex; it has to do how alternative fates of Galileo may change the course of subsequent history. The Jovians contend that alternative fates of Galileo will determine and change the course of human history in the millennia that follow.

There is a lot of focus on Galileo's study and experiments in motion. There is a theme of Galileo's relationship with his daughter Maria Celeste, a nun who lived in a sequestered convent. The author refers to her letters to him, featured also in the excellent book "Galileo's Daughter" by Dava Sobel. ( )

This book is not even 600 pages, but it feels as if it were 1000. It took a long time to read it, in each of the chapters I found myself thinking, there is still more to the end of the chapter?.
I thought I would give it three stars, but I liked very much the ending. All in all, a good read, now I'd like to find out more about Galileo.
For those of you who are wondering how much history is there and how much sci-fi, it's about 80-20. I mean, the sci-fi is good, but only 20%, so if you don't also like history, maybe not the best choice. ( )