Galileo's Dream: A Novel

The thing about the book Galileo's Dream is that it continued to confirm one of the archetypal patterns of my own personal research and deep areas of interest... which I didn't know it would be as much of a match about going into it.It's a combination of a very grounded real and encouraging perspective on a flawed human being (it's a biography of sorts of G.Galileli) who had the internal drive to behave, observe and learn about reality as a scientist. In some ways it's an unapologetic treatise about the flawed nature of being a single-minded scientific outlier in a culture that didn't understand him; as well as the social order, family system and an economic under structure that thwarted his ability to thrive as a scientist. An era in which he found himself adrift and in pain and inflicting pain on others as well.In any case the main point I would make is back to the deeper level of personal research that I can only find to be enlightened through fiction: it's the pursuit of understanding how the multiple dimensions of reality can be construed when different authors take their approaches to help their readers ascertain an experience of the 4th, 5th, 6th all the way through the 10th or 11th dimension of the reality of the universe.Robinson does an amazing job of overlaying a time traveling multi-dimensional structure of reality that is an excellent guide to describing parallel universes and the ability to incrementally affect history through the flow of multiple patterns of existences. I would put that book on one end of the spectrum that I appreciated re: the multi-dimensional fictional descriptions of the universe and on the other end of the spectrum I will put the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Cixin Lui. He delivers much more hard science fiction ala Arthur C. Clark and others. He takes on the challenge of trying to represent how the human experience could be extended beyond our comprehension when engaged with extra-terrestrial, super intelligent life forms & the shift of time & space via travel of people into the solar system and the remainder of the universe through light speed. It's lays out a more clinical, natural potentiality of the discover-able nature of the cosmos unfurled & unparalleled in my experience. It's the standard bearer of how hard science fiction is being done in the 21st century.Thus those two books dovetail together nicely one being grounded in historical fiction with different threads of commentary on what it might mean to be in the multiple dimensions of the universe (Robinson). Cixin does a better job allowing the reader to get a deeper engagement with the potentialities of the other dimensions that have a more logical or super logical construct. KSR is more fantastical or even poetical in his imaginative kinds of devices i.e. the 10 dimensional manifold on manifolds as he calls it.

I was excited at the start of this novel that blends the fascinating story of Galileo with a hidden and enticing event in the far future on a moon of Jupiter. The Galileo pieces offer a window into history that appears to be accurate, yet the twist keeps returning. What is happening on Ganymede and who is this character by that name? What gave they learned though passing of time? Who can be trusted and who is deceptive?The novel fades though. There are endless pages explaining ridiculous metaphysics. You slog through lengthy chapters several times about Galileo's pain, suffering, and later dementia. The great trial has moments of subtle brilliance marred by eye-rolling manipulation a and unexplained illogical moments where the authors seems to bid and smile at the reader, but the secret is opaque.I never felt satisfied with the conclusion on the moons and I thought the conclusion on Earth would never end. I can't recommend this novel until an editor hacks off at least 1/3 of it and sutures up the ending.

Kim Stanley Robinson has a way of taking unusual approaches to ideas that are already a bit of the beaten path.In this, we are given a ringside seat for the life of Galileo, as a scientist, and as a man. And just to make it interesting (snark), he is depicted as having interaction with future colonies upon the moons of Jupiter, which he discovered.Quite a romp, I recommend it highly.

Kim Stanley Robinson in one of my favorite writers. I enjoy the "hard science" elements he brings to his books, even if the math and physics are way over my head. Galileo's Dream is a twist on historical fiction/alternative history/science fiction. Robinson uses the well-known story of Galileo as a starting point in a story about the value and importance of science and scientific method - values under assault in contemporary US society. We've seen some of the ideas he brings in before, including time travel and "temporal civil war", but the wonder of the complexity and beauty of our universe comes through, even when the plot gets a little clunky.

Robinson does his research and develops his characters extremely well, but when he throws in the sci-fi element he achieves something wonderful. His discussions about what happens millenia from now are amazingly powerful and true to modern science. The combination is fascinating.

Say Galileo and you have said it all. This fictional account of Galileo takes the reader into Renissance Italy and the fight of the beginning of modern science and the Catholic Church. One is looking ahead and one wants the status quo. It this background where the author adds a fictional touch by having Galileo go to the moons of Jupiter while being in a dream state more than a 1000 years in the future. It there that he interact with the human inhabitants of these moons.The politics that he encounters seems to be a counterpoint of the politics in Italy back at his home. This in of itself could be another book. It is suggested that you read and decide for yourself.

I found the blending of future society's problems into events of the life of this amazing man to be cleverly and artfully done. Standing back now and examining just the future society and their characters and motivations they are thin stuff....but somehow their role in Galileo's life is a great vehicle for carrying the story forward and thus it all works well. I was truly captivated by this portrayal of what this great man may have been truly like.... I now feel compelled to read the non-fictional biographies and learn more about this man. I do hope to find a great alignment there with this fine work.

Fall far short of Kevin Anderson's more recent works. The renaissance scientist Galileo is pulled into the distant future to intervene on a dispute on the now inhabited moons of Jupiter. The novel does not quite work. The character of Galileo is not fully developed, his interaction with the citizens of the future unconvincing, almost wooden. It is as though the author became gripped with an idea then lost his way trying to convert the idea into a work of fiction. Anderson has written some gripping and credible works that are far superior.

Such a great idea to look at science in the past/future/present, while learning about the nonsense humanity threw/throws in the way of the rational, through Galileo's story.Kim Stanley Robonson's books are always excellent, always teach me something new - though he lost me with the Buddhist one:)

....As all Kim Stanley Robinson's books do: a sense of wonder and the marvelous, of potentiality for what is best despite the horrors we humans inflict on the world. But the author's usual strengths, strong, believable characters and meticulous building of a whole environment loses out to this attempt to explain time within an attempt to bring the many worlds theory to life within Galileo's story and far, possible futures. It works at the last.

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 'regolith'. He redeemed himself with 'The Years of Rice and Salt', which was still a bit too mystical for me, but it made me think about the science we take for granted.No such worries with 'Galileo's Dream' though. It works at every level. If you're RC, please read it, if you're a materialist, please read it, if you want a novel that makes a nod to biography or history, read it. I cried at the end, and I'm proud to say so. It's a masterpiece, so "Bravo' seemed the right title for this review, KSR is a maestro with this book.Thought experiment: Do you *know* how a telescope works?

Another amazing book from Kim Stanley Robinson. Historical fiction meets biography meets science fiction. I have learnt about the work of Galileo and been entertained.