Books
by Dava Sobel
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Galileo's Daughter |
Essentially a biography of the great man himself and his struggle with the Vatican on one of the biggest issues of the seventeenth century, scientific observation versus the literal truth of the Bible. But the tale is beautifully and imaginatively written around an archive of letters from his intelligent nun-daughter, Maria Celeste, who comments not only on these great affairs of state but also on the details of the family's domestic life in Tuscany.
(Michael Fitzgerald-Lombard - bwl 7 February 2001) |
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Longitude |
Amazing to think of it but until John Harrison, a self-taught clockmaker, invented a perfect timekeeper in the 18th century, knowing the longitude accurately when at sea was impossible. Harrison's battle to develop and gain acceptance for his invention, of enormous benefit to seafarers, is admirably described in this to me fascinating small book that requires little scientific knowledge on the reader's part.
(Jeremy Swann - bwl 5 October 2000) |
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The Planets |
Dava Sobel, who began her planet fetish aged 8, quotes the following mnemonic as an aid to memorise the order of the planets: My very educated mother just served us nine pies, which sadly with Pluto's demotion no longer works. However, there's nothing passé about the rest of this book which tells the fascinating story of our solar system through myth and history, astrology and science fiction to the latest data from robotic space probes.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 36 September 2006) |
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