Dialogue Concerning the two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican

Locations
Call Number: 520 Ga
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	520 Ga	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Originally published: Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems, Ptolemaic & Copernican. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1953.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

A Very Readable Landmark of Science History submitted by Jan Wolter on June 17, 2013, 11:26am This is the book that got Galileo in trouble, and like many books that get people in trouble, it's a hum-dinger. A lot of the great books of science are dreadfully dry, but Galileo was out to convince everyone, so he wrote a very engaging book. He wrote it in Italian, instead of the usual scholarly Latin, and constructed it as a dialogue between three fictional men, one arguing for the copernican system, one arguing for the ptolemaic system, and one initially neutral. Since science wasn't terribly advanced at the time, the arguments presented are all things that are easily followable by anyone today. Galileo had promised that the book would be neutral, presenting arguments but drawing no conclusions, but at that at least he failed miserably. This isn't really surprising, because one view was right and one was wrong, and if you argue them both well the one that is right is supposed to win, but Galileo didn't help the case by naming his man "Salviati" and his foe "Simplicio". Galileo's passion for the truth and the care and thoroughness on which he constructed his arguments shine through on every page. It's a book worth getting jailed for.

Stillman Drake's translation is scholarly and readable. This is a great book for anyone interested in the history of scientific thought.