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Galileo's Dream

3.45 of 5 stars 3.45 · rating details · 933 ratings · 188 reviews

At the heart of a provocative narrative that stretches from Renaissance Italy to the moons of Jupiter is the father of modern science: Galileo Galilei.

To the inhabitants of the Jovian moons, Galileo is a revered figure whose actions will influence the subsequent history of the human race. From the summit of their distant future, a charismatic renegade named Ganymede travel...more

578 pages

Published (first published August 6th 2009)

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Aug 18, 2012 MG Mason rated it 5 of 5 stars

This latest novel from Kim Stanley Robinson is at once both identifiable as Robinson's unique brand of philosophical science fiction and a departure from his work. In some ways it feels more like a homage to the early works of the likes of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

It starts as a simple biography of the first true scientist as he first observes and then shows others the miracles he can observe through his telescope. But one night a mysterious stranger asks Galileo to take a look at his device....more This latest novel from Kim Stanley Robinson is at once both identifiable as Robinson's unique brand of philosophical science fiction and a departure from his work. In some ways it feels more like a homage to the early works of the likes of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

It starts as a simple biography of the first true scientist as he first observes and then shows others the miracles he can observe through his telescope. But one night a mysterious stranger asks Galileo to take a look at his device. Galileo obliges and finds himself transported to another world: Europa in the 30th century to be precise. The Galilean moons are home to human factions currently arguing over whether scientific knowledge should be advanced by attempting to communicate with an advanced intellect that lives beneath the surface of the icy moon. The occupants of Europa require the assistance of Galileo to stop it happening and talking the other representatives out of their plan. This particular plot in so many ways reflects what is happening to Galileo in the 16th-17th century by mirroring in theme each phase of his engagement with the Vatican. He doesn't make one trip; instead he flits constantly between the two worlds to allow real-world events to happen before he is whisked back to Jupiter.

This is a "warts and all" look at Galilei Galileo. Far from portraying him as a Saint for the secular thinker, he is shown as a short-tempered bully, an excessive drinker, a womaniser and sometimes a fanatic whose single-mindedness in overturning the Ptolemaic model leads him to push his daughters into a convent without much thought for anything else. Also, we get an intriguing insight into the world of Vatican politics as a succession of popes are confronted with the problems of the age; not just Galileo but the impending 30 years war and other religious conflicts.

There is a moral tale at work too. The Europans are attempting to manipulate Galileo for their own end, pushing him further in order that he is burnt at the stake to become a secular martyr. Their ultimate goal is to end the war between religion and science quickly. Galileo feels uneasy at this; after all he always considered himself a good Catholic. In real life he died a sick man under house arrest having been brow-beaten into recanting.

Not only is this an intriguing and thoughtful novel, it is also quite fun. We delight at the sense of adventure as he explores the four primary moons and confronts the sentient being that lives in the Jupiter system. I really cannot fault this book.

See more book reviews at my blog (less)

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Mar 31, 2011 Tim Hicks added it

Shelves: science-fiction

At times this book went well, and it has plenty of history, some "I didn't know that" tidbits, and some weird.

It looks at Galileo as a genius who couldn't ever grasp the process or the importance of politics. Fine. It goes way overboard in describing what a grump he supposedly was. He is old and feeble after a few chapters, then seems to be 70+ forever. Every few chapters we drift back to inclined planes and I wonder if Robinson was paid by the word.

(minor spoilers follow)

Then we have the futu...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Carl Alves rated it 3 of 5 stars

Galileo's Dream was a fascinating novel with a really cool concept. In the novel people from the future living in Jupiter go into the past to meet Galileo. Under the pretense of helping him with his telescope discovery, they transport him into the future to Jupiter. They bring him there because of a problem they are having with a group of Jovians who want to go into the ocean of one of Jupiter's moons. They hope that Galileo will provide them with insight to the problems they are currently facin...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Abra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, first-time-read, science-fiction

I am fascinated by Kim Stanley Robinson (or KSR, as many of his fans seem to refer to him). He's a leftist. He writes (for me) more accessible science fiction than China Miéville, who is, however, much more explicitly socialist than Robinson. He's local-ish -- resident in Davis, CA. I just missed hearing him at a Writers With Drinks salon/bar evening, a couple of years ago. I like what he writes about -- future possibilities that extend really existing science much more than most sci fi, and tha...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Peter marked it as to-read · review of another edition

To the inhabitants of the Jovian moons, Galileo is a revered figure whose actions will influence the subsequent history of the human race. From the summit of their distant future, a charismatic renegade named Ganymede travels to the past to bring Galileo forward in an attempt to alter history and ensure the ascendancy of science over religion. And if that means Galileo must be burned at the stake, so be it.

Yet between his brief and jarring visitations to this future, Galileo must struggle agai

...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Ian Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. Parts of it are great, while others are weak; I could have just as easily given it 3 stars as 4.

The novel essentially combines 2 stories; one is historical fiction about the life of Galileo, while the other involves him being brought into the far future and interacting with inhabitants of the moons of Jupiter.

The "historical" story is mostly well done, though there are a few stretches that read more like a history book than a novel. I got a little tired of...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Kirsten Kowalewski rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

This is a phenomenal book. There are two intertwined stories; a fictionalized portrait of Galileo Galilei from the time he popularized the telescope until the end of his life, and a science fictional rebellion on the moons of Jupiter about three thousand years after he discovered them, that Galileo is transported to via a time travel device. At first it appears that Galileo's appearance in the future is crucial to shaping events there, but it quickly becomes evident that this is a plot device- a...more This is a phenomenal book. There are two intertwined stories; a fictionalized portrait of Galileo Galilei from the time he popularized the telescope until the end of his life, and a science fictional rebellion on the moons of Jupiter about three thousand years after he discovered them, that Galileo is transported to via a time travel device. At first it appears that Galileo's appearance in the future is crucial to shaping events there, but it quickly becomes evident that this is a plot device- a way for Galileo to learn about and react to the centuries of science that followed him, and specifically to time travel and whether, knowing his own life story, he can alter events.

Robinson does a fantastic job of shaping Galileo's character. This is no saintly martyred scientist- Galileo is a seriously flawed character and definitely a product of his time, particularly in his attitudes toward women. At the same time, Robinson captured the feeling of pure joy Galileo felt in exploring the universe through mathematics, and was able to show him as a caring man who made disastrous decisions. The Jovian future storyline isn't convincing and is carried more by Galileo's curiosity and amazement at the developments in science since his own time, and the way he feels as he is learning it. It also provides, in most vivid fashion (by sending him through time to the moment where he is burning at the stake for heresy), motivation for Galileo to alter events in his own time.

Unfortunately, this seems to be an act of futility for him, and this is absolutely nightmarish to me. To know that you can't change your past in your own lifetime is one thing, but to find out what your past is from the far future and not be able to change anything is awful. Galileo does manage to avoid burning at the stake (kind of- it's hard to tell exactly as he skips through time streams in his own life) but otherwise events pretty much play out just as history records, regardless of his efforts.

Even if you don't read science fiction this is worth reading just for Robinson's depiction of Galileo. I had never read any of Robinson's books before, but I will be tracking them down now!(less)

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Apr 10, 2011 Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of big ideas and sweeping vistas, historical minutiae... good old-fashioned SF

Recommended to Alan by: Previous work

Eppur si muove, come la Terra mi emoziona.

Time travel fiction is, at its heart, primarily a literature of regret. Oh, there is the occasional pure travelogue, to be sure; the odd parody played for laughs; and the even rarer voyage of self-discovery... but for the most part, why send some hapless schmuck through time at all, but for the opportunity to step twice into Heraclitus' river, to redirect its flow—to change those things that might not have to have been?

And, usually, to find out that alte...more

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Jul 14, 2010 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, bought-copy

Publisher's Blurb (courtesy of Harper Voyager): 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 lif...more Publisher's Blurb (courtesy of Harper Voyager): 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.

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 to be the height of his fame before he is embroiled in disputes with the Church. Life in Italy, the importance of religion, the baby steps being taken towards scientific understanding - all of these are brought to glorious life, with wonderful descriptive passages and the use of Galileo's letters to enforce the events he was living through. I confess that I would have been hugely satisfied with an historical novel that purely explored the life and times of Galileo.

Kim Stanley Robinson, however, intersperses the historical passages with brief visits to the far-flung moons of Jupiter - Galileo travelling through both time and space to discover the colonised moons in 3020. To begin with, these passages felt as though they were shoehorned into the novel in a clumsy fashion, with the reader suffering the same confusion as the Galileo of this novel must have suffered. The passages set in the future were roughly sketched, the worldbuilding not living up to the meticulously researched historical sections. Eventually, you become used to the rough transitions, but I never enjoyed them, and I grew frustrated at the fact that each time Galileo returned from his future visits, his memory was partially cleared of events experienced in the future.

As well as the excellent historical sections, for me the greatest strength of this novel - the factor that gave it both humour and heart - was the stunning characterisation of Galileo Galilei. This is a man who infuriated many of his contemporaries - arrogant, stubborn, opinionated. A man who was liable to forget the day to day running of his household, who was able to commit his daughters to difficult lives. And yet also a visionary - a towering historical figure who gave so much to the world of science. All of this, and more, Kim Stanley Robinson manages to commit to paper - Galileo lives on through this novel.

Ultimately, then, Galileo's Dream is a richly rewarding read that I thoroughly enjoyed. My main issue with it is the pacing created by the dual storylines - this caused me no end of frustration because, at heart, I felt this should have been a straight historical novel. I would recommend this book to those who have even a passing interest in the progression of science. It is excellently written and the "frustrated genius" of Galileo takes centre stage.

Arthur Clarke thoughts: Hmm, Galileo's Dream is yet another solid entry into the short list of six books - and, once again (I feel I am constantly repeating myself in these short analyses) it is a completely different novel from the other five. It brings the science to science fiction, in this case - exploring actual science as well as taking us on a space opera journey to future worlds. It is massively deserving of its place as a finalist, not least of which because this novel shows the continual fascination with science that gave us science fiction in the first place (I think I have expressed that in a rather clumsy manner - but it is the truth that without men such as Galileo and Newton, we wouldn't have such a desire to look at what might be achieved through the use of science). Kim Stanley Robinson's enormous affection for his subject matter shines through, and gives us a novel which is possibly the most honest of the six. I don't think it will win - but I secretly want it to. (less)

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Mar 13, 2010 Jon Stout rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: scientists and historians

Shelves: scifi

Galileo’s Dream is an affectionate, intimate portrait of Galileo, historically accurate and incorporating extensive quotations from his writing. Although the book is also a science fiction fantasy, the different elements do not clash. Ostensibly, Galileo is contacted by a time traveler from the future and travels into the future to participate in a political crisis on the moons of Jupiter. But these trips take place while Galileo’s body on earth seems to be in a trance or unconscious, and the Jo...more

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Jan 27, 2010 Jason Golomb rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, historical-fiction

I'm a huge fan of Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Years of Rice and Salt" which is a terrific blend of pseudo science fictional philosophy and religion, and fun and entertaining alternative history. It's deep and touching and provides a strong sense of activity (if not specifically action and adventure).

The concept behind "Galileo's Dream" drew me to the book the instant I read the description: Galileo is taken from Earth to the moons of Jupiter (which he discovered) in an attempt to modify the past...more

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Jan 15, 2010 David Hebblethwaite rated it 4 of 5 stars

This may turn out to be less of a review of a book than a ‘working-through’ of one, because I’m well aware that I haven’t grasped everything that Galileo’s Dream is trying to do, and so can’t appreciate it as much as I would have liked. But I’d like to set down my thoughts all the same.

It would be quite easy, I think, to describe this novel in a way that sounds like a bad movie pitch: Galileo receives visitors from the future, who take him back (forward!) to their time in an attempt to stave off...more This may turn out to be less of a review of a book than a ‘working-through’ of one, because I’m well aware that I haven’t grasped everything that Galileo’s Dream is trying to do, and so can’t appreciate it as much as I would have liked. But I’d like to set down my thoughts all the same.

It would be quite easy, I think, to describe this novel in a way that sounds like a bad movie pitch: Galileo receives visitors from the future, who take him back (forward!) to their time in an attempt to stave off a threat to humanity itself! All of this is accurate, but makes the book sound gimmicky; it’s to Robinson’s great credit that Galileo’s Dream has far more gravitas than that.

Two narratives combine: one a fictionalised account of Galileo’s life and career (beginning with his work on the telescope), which is here punctuated by visits from a stranger who nudges Galileo’s researches along, and later transports him forward 1,400 years, where humanity has colonised Jupiter’s moons and is debating how best to approach an alien intelligence it has found there. Galileo, the stranger thinks, could help sway the different factions towards his preferred solution – but his motives run even deeper than that.

These two settings mesh together somewhat awkwardly, partly because the future society is depicted rather more vaguely; and partly because of a clash of styles – the 31st-century sections are generally more novelistic, whilst those set in the 17th century are typically written more in the manner of a historical biography. That said, all these choices are justified – Gailieo’s visits to the future are episodic in nature (during those times, he appears in Italy to have fainted, so those visits are also dreams of a sort to him); and Galileo’s Dream is framed as a particular kind of text, which accounts for its different modes of telling – and the combination does work well enough to be convincing.

Galileo’s Dream is a long, detailed novel; and some of its passages drag on too long (though it could be that I feel this because I didn’t know all that much about Galileo’s life). But there are also brilliant moments, and some of the best are also among the most dense with information. Robinson brings vividly to life the sheer amount of painstaking work that would have been involved (and that, I’m sure, still is involved) in scientific experimentation; the character traits that could go with it (Galileo is portrayed as well-meaning but difficult to get along with, and as not paying attention to the political landscape, which ultimately proves his undoing); but also the wonder of creating knowledge.

Another aspect of Galileo’s Dream is that (as I read it) Robinson seeks to reflect the novel’s scientific concepts in the narrative itself. So, for example, Galileo learns that changing the past could change the future; and then, each time he visits Rome, he feels that it’s a different place each time, because the political climate keeps changing. For me, the best example of this comes after Galileo is told of the myriad possible time streams that exist and that all pasts, presents and futures are tangled together; in a beautifully written passage, he then returns to his time and wonders what’s the point of doing anything.

I think this last area was where I missed out the most – I sense there’s quite a lot on which I didn’t pick up – and, since it’s so central, that naturally affects how much I took from Galileo’s Dream. I don’t think it’s an entirely successful work, but I am glad to have read it – it was my first Kim Stanley Robinson novel, and I intend to read more.(less)

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Jan 14, 2010 Omar rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, historical-fiction, science-fiction, introspection

I had mixed feelings about this book - largely because of expectations I'd developed reading previous KSR books.

Without revealing anything critical about the plot, KSR has come up with a mechanism by which he exposes his readers to Galileo Galilei's life in the 17th century while periodically pulling us forward to a time in roughly the 31st century.

I found KSR's take on the 17th century Galileo to be engaging and thought provoking in unexpected ways. I've been strongly affected by previous KSR...more I had mixed feelings about this book - largely because of expectations I'd developed reading previous KSR books.

Without revealing anything critical about the plot, KSR has come up with a mechanism by which he exposes his readers to Galileo Galilei's life in the 17th century while periodically pulling us forward to a time in roughly the 31st century.

I found KSR's take on the 17th century Galileo to be engaging and thought provoking in unexpected ways. I've been strongly affected by previous KSR books largely because of the way he's used epic scale stories unfolding in monumental settings as lens' into his equally vast, sweeping social and economic theories - all without losing the reader's intimate connections to characters that are carefully and intricately personalized. The 17th century thread in this book, however, eschews the panoramic setting in order to concentrate on Galileo's personal journey.

In my mind, he succeeds thoroughly in this approach. He draws the reader into his depiction of Galileo as a man wrestling to gain perspective on past personal traumas (many self-inflicted, through narcissism and blind privilege) while desperately trying to avoid future disaster. Meanwhile, he uses the events of the 17th century story line and some expositional elements of the 31st century story to give the reader a nice overview of the significance of Galileo's historical position, as the first human being known to have applied what we now call the scientific method. In short, humanity's first scientist.

Unfortunately, while the 31st century thread proves integral in advancing the 17th century storyline; it fails to compel, in and of itself. At first, it feels like a distraction. When it loses some of it's off-putting cartoonish-ness, it never succeeds in finding it's own draw. To me, it feels as though KSR came up with it as a way to develop the 17th century story; but was never able to come up with a good story to drive the 31st century thread forward.

In the end, however, I liked the book. I don't think it'll prove to have as much affect on me as the Mars trilogy did; but taken in the context of KSR's overall work, I see it as balancing the Mars Trilogy. While I never read the Three California's trilogy, I noticed the quality of his characterizations improved noticeably during the span of the Mars trilogy. This trend continues in the Science in the Capital cycle and seems (to me) to have reached a pinnacle with this book.(less)

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Jan 04, 2013 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: finished-2013

"Galileo's Dream" is the first book by Kim Stanley Robertson that I have read. Chosen quickly for holiday reading, I didn't realize that I was embarking on a science fiction read until about 40 pages in. By then I was hooked. By serendipity at the airport I had also bought "Seeing Further: The Story of The Royal Society", a non-fiction collection of stories about the history of science by eminent contributors published to celebrate 350 years since the founding of The Royal Society in 1660. I rea...more

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May 25, 2010 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was initially underwhelmed by the beginning of this book, but then, the Mars trilogy, which I just read last year, is a tough act to follow, and this book has gotten better. This is almost mystical sci-fi from an author that I would normal place firmly in the "hard" sci-fi category. The mysticism is something of an illusion though, and is the result of Robinson, like other current sci-fi writers, trying to incorporate ideas about the role of consciousness in the shaping of reality. Neal Stephe...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Darth rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is AMAZING.

I am generally not one to rave on about a book, but this was really great.
I have read other Kim Stanly Robinson books that sounded promising going in - great idea / interesting premise - that really got bogged down in the minutia of the telling.
Mostly now I am thinking of the Mars books: Red, Green, Blue & Martians.
They sounded so promising, but ended up being largely boring by the time I was through with them.

Galileo's Dream though was a thoughtful and thought provoki...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Daryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

Okay, I'm a fan of Kim Stanley Robinson. I've enjoyed the Mars books (though I only read the first two of the trilogy) and really liked the novel Antarctica. I read another recently, an older sci-fi novel, that I didn't much care for. I thought Galileo's Dream looked really interesting when it was first published, and it was. It's a bit long, as Robinson's books often are, but it held my interest very well throughout. I have to say I liked the historical fiction portions of the book --Galileo's...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Shanrina rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: didn-t-finish, historical, italy, science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 13, 2010 Katrina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Kim Stanley Robinson has always been one of my favorite authors. No matter what book I pick up, there's always something there that catches me and makes me think. This book is no exception.

Galileo Galilei is well-known in history as being one of the first scientists, testing the world with experiments and being the first to observe and document the existence of the moons of Jupiter. Galileo is also known as the man who ran afoul of the Catholic Church and was forced to recant his holding of the...more

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Feb 05, 2011 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone interested in history and physics

Shelves: historical-novel

I might rate this somewhere between 3 & 4

I have really enjoyed immersing myself in this novel about the mathematician and scientist, Galileo, I spent some time reading it, because as I read I wanted to compare the novel to the real life of Galileo, who I researched on line, also because much of it covered studies of physics and astronomy, of which I am very ignorant.

The problems between science and religion were a large part of Galileo's life, since he lived during the Roman Catholic Inquisi...more

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Apr 02, 2013 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is Kim Stanley Robinson’s love letter to science and mathematics. I loved it!

In many ways, this is perhaps the least typical novel Kim Stanley Robinson has written. It’s certainly the most passionate and overtly philosophical work he’s written.

What struck me first about the book is how reminiscent it is of the unexpected traveler stories so popular in the SF pulp era of the ‘20s and ‘30s. It was refreshing. At the same time, the scientific theory that defines the world in this novel is abou...more This is Kim Stanley Robinson’s love letter to science and mathematics. I loved it!

In many ways, this is perhaps the least typical novel Kim Stanley Robinson has written. It’s certainly the most passionate and overtly philosophical work he’s written.

What struck me first about the book is how reminiscent it is of the unexpected traveler stories so popular in the SF pulp era of the ‘20s and ‘30s. It was refreshing. At the same time, the scientific theory that defines the world in this novel is about as cutting edge as it gets. Of course, much of the book is set in Galileo’s Italy of the first half of the 17th century and explores both the state of science at that time and the conflicts with religion that defined it.

One might expect that all these different styles would make the book a giant mess... but it doesn’t.

This isn’t Mr. Robinson’s best work by any means, but in many ways it’s his most personal. In many ways, I think it’s his most powerful. His writing here has immediacy and an intimacy that I never saw in his more famous novels.

If I have one complaint, it’s that the ending feels like it drags out for too long. More than once in the last few chapters, I found myself wishing he’d just wrap it up already. But by the time I got to the true end of the novel, I was glad that Mr. Robinson had taken me there. So I guess that makes it worth it.

What I like best about this novel are two sections beginning about a third of the way into the book where he takes us through a concise history of the development of mathematics and physics, from Archimedes to current 10-dimensional string theory. He explains it all about as well as I've ever seen these issues explained in lay terms. In particular, I appreciate that he freely acknowledges how much of our understanding of the universe is counter-intuitive and apparently contradictory, how little of it makes sense to most people.

I first became interested in cosmology – the Big Bang, quantum mechanics, relativity, etc. – when I was in third grade. I’ve spent my life pondering these ideas, trying to wrap my brain around concepts that are irreducibly counter-intuitive and simply can’t be imagined. As Mr. Robinson quotes Niels Bohr in this novel: “If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.” This is true of all cosmology. I’ve had a lifetime of learning to be comfortable with the shock of these extraordinary ideas.

I know many people, however, who haven’t been acclimated to these sorts of ideas before, who haven’t learned how to think in such deeply counter-intuitive ways. Trying to explain cutting edge physics to someone new to it is therefore very difficult.

For the foreseeable future, I’m going to use these passages from Galileo’s Dream to do it. It’s simply the best introduction to cosmological theory I’ve read.(less)

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Jun 14, 2013 Manuel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

As a book of historical fiction this book works admirably. Unfortunately the Jovian Story Line almost ruins it. This part is mixed with the historical passages with brief visits to the distant moons of Jupiter - Galileo travelling through both time and space to discover the colonized moons.

To begin with, these passages felt as though they were implanted into the novel in a inept fashion and we readers, suffering the same confusion as the Galileo of this novel must have suffered. The passages se...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Bob Corrigan added it

Hmmmm. The jury is still out on this one. Writing is ... okay. Rather straightforward narrative - nothing splashy or fancy. This book is a combination of history (a bit anyway), alternative history (they give a stabbed man 'antibiotics' - in the 1600s!), and science fiction (Galileo keeps getting transported to one of the moons of Jupiter by strange aliens). Not really my cup of tea at all.

So - this one's on the ropes. And besides, it's a rather long book - if I'm losing interest after 3 or 4 ch...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Alina rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

This novel blends science fiction and historical fiction in a literary hybrid that is, at times, too ponderous for my taste, but has some good qualities. Time travelers contact the early scientist and transport him to the inhabited Galilean moons of the 31st century. Galileo experiences these trips to the future while in a catatonic state -- which his contemporaries interpret as one of his epileptic fits -- yet runs around the moons of Jupiter in his physical body. How this works is never entire...more

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Jan 11, 2010 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scientastic

Half historical fiction about Galileo's life and discoveries, half science fiction as he gets yanked forward in time as a pawn in factional struggles among the inhabitants of the Galilean satellites (ie, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, and Io) in the 31st century. Making this book, like most Robinson novels, a sprawling, ambitious, delicious mess. What else would you expect from a book that covers themes as crazy diverse as time travel, the scientific revolution, extraterrestrial life, the 30 Years...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Kate rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

All right, I can't stand it anymore. I still have 80 pages to go, but I honestly don't care about any of the characters, and can't bring myself to slog through the rest of the book, book club or no. This has got to be the worst story I've ever read that was written by a purportedly professional author. It's infected with some of the most hideous bloat I've ever seen-- cutting out about 200 pages of nonsense would probably improve it. The "historical" parts are like a biography of Galileo tweaked...more All right, I can't stand it anymore. I still have 80 pages to go, but I honestly don't care about any of the characters, and can't bring myself to slog through the rest of the book, book club or no. This has got to be the worst story I've ever read that was written by a purportedly professional author. It's infected with some of the most hideous bloat I've ever seen-- cutting out about 200 pages of nonsense would probably improve it. The "historical" parts are like a biography of Galileo tweaked by some amateur writer into an "educational" novel form-- it's like Robinson shoved in every fact he learned about Galileo, his family, and the time period without bothering to trim out all the bits that weren't at all relevant to his story. For every scene there's a sizable chunk of narrated exposition-- pages and pages, detailing months or years, that could have been condensed to a few lines or even cut entirely. The "earthbound" Galileo isn't even a proper character most of the time-- just a caricature of the historical person-- which is unfortunate given that he's supposed to be the main character.

The "space" bits are a little more interesting. There are two main threads-- the time-travel/history-manipulation thread, and the smaller (but more important??) "planetary intelligence" thread. Unfortunately they're not really well developed-- they're buried in a lot of nonsense about endless walks through hallways and endless trips on a spacecraft that takes forever to go anywhere. There's a character called Hera who takes it on herself to therapize Galileo by finding his "trauma nodes" and forcing him to relive certain key traumatic memories, apparently so he can become enlightened and...? She's also supposed to have a sort of semi-romantic relationship with him, which mostly comes across as creepy and grotesque. (If you describe your character's hernia in revolting detail, and then write a scene where he's running around naked in a boar's-head mask and an iron hernia truss, then I will not be seeing him as a romantic prospect for ANYONE-- especially if you follow it quickly with another scene that deals with his intimate bodily functions. Gross, Robinson. Ew.)

Again, I didn't read to the end, so I don't know if the book gets any better in the last eighty pages. I expect someone can tell me what happened tomorrow. This is not a book I would have read of my own volition, and I can't in good conscience recommend it to anyone. (less)

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Mar 22, 2010 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: random-comments-review

The author took a chance by adding the Jovian story line and I don't think it quite worked like the author intended. It's interesting it its own way but it cannot balance to absolutely brilliant historical part of the novel. Despite that, I enjoyed reading this book an awful lot. Galileo's Dream is a novel with several layers, historical element was absolutely outstanding to me but there are also some very interesting scientific, philosophical and religious elements to the book. It is a book tha...more

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Sep 02, 2010 Ayesha Chander rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Aug 20, 2012 Joshua Zucker rated it 3 of 5 stars

An interesting sort of fictionalized biography of Galileo. It's good to compare with, for instance, Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love. My feeling is that the science-fictional story added on is interesting but somewhat out of place; I might have preferred to read that story, without the Galileo biography as the focus. Perhaps that's only because I was already so familiar with his biography that those elements seemed a bit slow and dry.

Still, a great story of the...more

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Jul 28, 2012 Michael Clemens rated it 3 of 5 stars

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About Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer, probably best known for his award-winning Mars trilogy.

His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the 15 years of research and lifelong fascination with Mars which culminated in his most famous work. He has, due to his...more

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Quotes from Galileo's Dream

“We all have secret lives. The life of excretion; the world of inappropriate sexual fantasies; our real hopes, our terror of death; our experience of shame; the world of pain; and our dreams. No one else knows these lives. Consciousness is solitary. Each person lives in that bubble universe that rests under the skull, alone.” — 22 people liked it

“And so sometimes when you feel strange, when a pang tugs at your heart or it seems like the moment has already happened- or when you look up in the sky and are surprised at the sight of bright Jupiter between clouds, and everything suddenly seems stuffed with a vast significance-consider that some other person somewhere is entangled with you in time, and is trying to give some push to the situation, some little help to make things better. Then put your shoulder to whatever wheel you have at hand, whatever moment you're in, and push too! Push like Galileo pushed! And together we may crab sideways toward the good.” — 7 people liked it

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