Galileo by Mitch Stokes

Book

Galileo's innovations didn't stop at philosophical changes. He also questioned beliefs about the very structure of the universe, arguing that the earth moves around the sun at dizzying speeds.

Working with the telescope, Galileo showed philosophers that the sun, moon, and stars aren't composed of an insubstantial and unalterable "fifth element" but are made of the same essence that ordinary earthly objects are.

But proposing such tense changes made scholars uncomfortable. And since philosophers were unable to deny Galileo on their playing field, they inquired help from ecclesiastics, sending Galileo headlong into a dispute with church officials.

Galileo appealed to church fathers like St. Augustine to prevent the scholars from making what he saw as a tragic error.

But intrigues, personality clashes, and disputes led to Galileo's famous trial and condemnation, events misinterpreted as revealing a significant conflict separating science and religion.

Author

Mitch Stokes is a Fellow of Philosophy at New St. Andrews College in Idaho.

He gained his Ph.D. in philosophy of Notre Dame following the command of Alvin Plantinga and Peter van Inwagen.

At Yale, he received an M.A. in religion under the leadership of Nicholas Wolterstorff.

He also holds an M.S. in mechanical engineering and, before his philosophy career, acted for a global engineering firm where he earned five patents in aero-derivative gas turbine technology.

He and his wife, Christine, have four children.

Review

This publication is a biography of Galileo Galilei, a pure genius that lived in Italy during the 16th/17th century.

Originally from Pisa, his father wanted him to be a physician, but his love for mathematics was stronger than his father's desires.

We learn from the author that Galileo used his math and science to prove the occurrences in the observable world.

Notable is his observation of the chandelier movement on the Pisa Cathedral, which inspired him to write the law of pendulum, which states that the period of oscillation is independent of the weight and length of the pendulum.

For him, the language of nature was mathematics. His conclusion that the scriptures cannot conflict with the observation of nature is a powerful one but caused him more trouble than joy.

His respect for the authorities of the church is well stated.

The author did a magnificent job making us feel that he was the best friend of Galileo, narrating all events on his life in a level of details and interest that only a close friend would know how to do.

Clearly the amount of research behind the scenes done to compose this book was incredible. The author did a careful job of documenting everything that supported his work.

I recommend this book for anyone that loves biographies and science.

The publisher was too kind enough to send me a copy for an uncompromised review through the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Program.

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