It is curious to note that Copernicus’ Book of Revolutions had created little stir for half a century, and Kepler’s Laws even less at their time, while the Star Messenger, which had only an indirect bearing on the issue, caused such an outburst of emotions. The main reason was, no doubt, its immense readability. To digest Kepler’s magnum opus required, as one of his colleagues remarked, ‘nearly a lifetime’; but the Star Messenger could be read in an hour, and its effect was like a punch in the solar plexus on those grown up in the traditional view of the bounded universe.
