Galileo »

The critics in both the conventional and academic press praised the biography for its vibrant portrait of Galileo the man, its solid accessible exposition of Galilean science as well as its dramatic treatment of Galileo's clash with the Church over the issue of science vs. faith.

The well-known historian of science, Owen Gingerich, of Harvard University said of the book, "James Reston, Jr. paints a vivid yet sensitive portrait of Galileo: his effervescent friendships in the rich intellectual milieu of the Venetian Republic, the brew of excitement and egoistic paranoia that accompanied his astronomical discoveries with the telescope, the annoyances of a derelict brother and the lawsuit over his sister's dowry, the agony of the trip to Rome to face the Inquisition. It is a dramatic story, often told, but never as compellingly as this."

Los Angeles Times

Fresh sinewy, and altogether admirable.