Galileo's Dream
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Review
‘A triumph, with Robinson's gifts for characterisation and world-building firmly to the fore. His Galileo is wonderful: brilliant, irascible, sometimes hateful, and always fascinating. The finale is both stirring and melancholic, and a fitting tribute to science's most famous iconoclast.’ New Scientist
Praise for the Mars trilogy:
‘Staggering … Required reading for the colonists of the next century’ Arthur C. Clarke
‘The ultimate in future history’ Daily Mail
'One of the most impressive pieces of science fiction of the past ten years' The Economist
'Absorbing, impressive, fascinating… Utterly plausible' Financial Times
'One of the landmarks of American literature' TLS
'A beautiful book – to be lived in' Daily Telegraph
Product Description
In a novel of stunning dimensions, the acclaimed author of the groundbreaking MARS trilogy brings us the story of the incredible life – and death – of Galileo, the First Scientist.
Late Renaissance Italy abounds in alchemy and Aristotle, yet it trembles on the brink of the modern world. Galileo’s new telescope encapsulates all the contradictions of this emerging reality. Then one night a stranger presents a different type of telescope for Galileo to peer through, enabling him to see the world of humans three thousand years hence.
Galileo will soon find himself straddling two worlds, the medieval and the modern. By day his life unfurls in early seventeenth century Italy; by night he is transported through dimensions of time and space no other man of his time could possibly comprehend. Inexorably, Galileo faces trial for religious crimes in his own time, while in the new world he discovers, where science assures men that they can perform wonders, but does not tell them what wonders to perform, he is revered.
This sumptuous, gloriously thought-provoking and suspenseful novel recalls Robinson's magnificent Mars books as well as bringing to us Galileo as we have always wanted to know him.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
A curious curate's egg of a book; Galileo's Dream is set in the 17th century in Italy and in the 30th century in the Galilean Moons (satellites of Jupiter). Galileo is transported between the two at the whim of a mysterious individual living in the 30th century but claiming to have come from even further in the future.
What we have is a mixture of historical fiction, relating the circumstances of Galileo's rise and fall and a science fiction story set in the future. I really enjoyed the historical bits; they seemed to have the ring of authenticity and I was carried along by the plot (despite knowing the outcome).
I found the future story disappointing and naive. It reminded me of Edgar Rice Burroughs on a bad day. The plot was convoluted, lacked characterisation, and did not grip me at all. If Robinson had stuck to the history this would have been a fine book. As it was, I found it little better than mediocre. (And, yes, I normally much prefer SF to historical fiction.)
What we have is a mixture of historical fiction, relating the circumstances of Galileo's rise and fall and a science fiction story set in the future. I really enjoyed the historical bits; they seemed to have the ring of authenticity and I was carried along by the plot (despite knowing the outcome).
I found the future story disappointing and naive. It reminded me of Edgar Rice Burroughs on a bad day. The plot was convoluted, lacked characterisation, and did not grip me at all. If Robinson had stuck to the history this would have been a fine book. As it was, I found it little better than mediocre. (And, yes, I normally much prefer SF to historical fiction.)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Robinson is possibly the greatest scifi writer of his generation, so it seems strange to be giving this 3 stars, but all I can do is agree with the many comments below- this is at times excellently written, and the characterisation and dialogue is mostly very succesful, but the 2 crossing plots just don't work very well. The entire sci-fi plot feels tacked on, some parts seem an obvious homage to golden age pulp SF but the main thing to note about golden age pulp SF is that it's fairly rotten. I totally agree with the many others who say that this could have been a wonderful fictionalised bio of Galileo rather than an odd mismatch of styles and scenes.
Still, it's worth reading, as is all KSR, but if you're new to him- start elsewhere. It doesn't really matter where! Mars remains his masterwork, 40/50/60 Days is also exceptionally good. Nothing I've read of his is actually bad but it does slump to this level sometimes.
Still, it's worth reading, as is all KSR, but if you're new to him- start elsewhere. It doesn't really matter where! Mars remains his masterwork, 40/50/60 Days is also exceptionally good. Nothing I've read of his is actually bad but it does slump to this level sometimes.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Galileo's Dream is a book of two parts - one based loosely on the life of Galileo, which is a fair enough piece of storytelling, if a little tedious and long-winded. This thread is intermingled with a, to me, incomprehensible SF element which involves Galileo being beamed forward in time and across to the moons of Jupiter at various stages in his life. I'm afraid I can give little further detail than that because, despite having trudged my way to the end of the book, I still cannot comprehend the purpose behind these forays or what was supposed to have happened. Maybe those with greater literary insights can fathom what they were about, but they were beyond me.
I quite enjoyed the Mars trilogy, whose strong concept kept the book going despite KSR's turgid style, although I confess to not having read other KSR books aside from those 3 before this one. I'm certain now that I wont read another.
I quite enjoyed the Mars trilogy, whose strong concept kept the book going despite KSR's turgid style, although I confess to not having read other KSR books aside from those 3 before this one. I'm certain now that I wont read another.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hopeless, did not get through it to the end, don't bother
I am an avid reader, and rarely give up on a book once I have started. I have read most of this authors previous books and enjoyed them all, but this one just didn't gell for me. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Ken Fowler
Vary Good Book - Got a Little Lost at Times
Just finished this book on my Kindle. I enjoyed it vary much and the story was certainly an interesting one mixed fiction with non-fiction. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Traffic
I liked half the story. Maybe a third.
You're going to read this a lot. The story of Galileo's life and times is quite fascinating. The science fiction half of the story considerably less so. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Clever Spud
Interesting but gets rather complex
An interesting premise but the author is too fond of obscure words many of which defeated my own and the kindles vocabulary . Read more
Published 5 months ago by T. C. Rigden
A Book of Two Parts
A curious book by Kim Stanley Robinson and one that is badly flawed. It is set in two time periods, the 17th century and the 30th century, and is a curious mix of historical... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Iphidaimos
Beautifully written
Kim Stanley Robinson is an absolutely fantastic novelist.
This book is a very unusual combination of historical fiction and science fiction. Read more
This book is a very unusual combination of historical fiction and science fiction. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Gareth Power
Historical Sci-fi
I feel the same as many others about this book:
the historical parts of the novel do not meld with the science fictional parts. Read more
the historical parts of the novel do not meld with the science fictional parts. Read more
Published 16 months ago by nomans
Fascinating but flawed...
Having produced three trilogies (Three Californias, Red Mars and Science in the Capital), and novels like Antartica and The Years of Rice and Salt, all of which are wide-screen... Read more
Published 17 months ago by A. J. Poulter
Bravo!
I've always been cautious about Kim Stanley Robinson, given that people praise the Mars trilogy, which for me was tedium broken only by wondering how often once could use the word... Read more
Published 21 months ago by KJ44
A masterclass in historical fiction
Galileo's Dream is, first and foremost, a masterclass in how to write historical fiction. Much of the novel is based in Renaissance Italy, following Galileo at what most consider... Read more
Published 23 months ago by A. L. Rutter
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