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."