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Book Cover
E-book
Author Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642.

Title Galileo on the world systems : a new abridged translation and guide / Maurice A. Finocchiaro
Published Berkeley : University of California Press, ©1997

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 425 pages)
Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Editorial Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Selections from Galileo's Dialogue -- Outline of Selections -- To the Discerning Reader -- First Day -- Second Day -- Third Day -- Fourth Day -- Appendix -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary Galileo's 1632 book, Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican, comes alive for twentieth-century readers thanks to Maurice Finocchiaro's brilliant new translation and presentation. Condemned by the Inquisition for its heretical proposition that the earth revolves around the sun, Galileo's masterpiece takes the form of a debate, divided into four "days," among three highly articulate gentlemen. Finocchiaro sets the stage with his introduction, which not only provides the human and historical framework for the Dialogue but also admits the reader gracefully into the basic non-Copernican understanding of the universe that would have been shared by Galileo's original audience. The translation of the Dialogue is abridged in order to highlight its essential content, and Finocchiaro gives titles to the various parts of the debate as a guide to the principal topics. By explicating his own critical reading of this text that is itself an exercise in critical reasoning on a gripping real-life controversy, he illuminates those universal, perennial activities of the human mind that make Galileo's book a living document. This is a concrete, hands-on introduction to critical thinking. The translation has been made from the Italian text provided in volume 7 of the Critical National Edition of Galileo's complete works edited by Antonio Favaro. The translator has also consulted the 1632 edition, as well as the other previous English translations, including California's 1967 version. Galileo on the World Systems is a remarkably nuanced interpretation of a classic work and will give readers the tools to understand and evaluate for themselves one of the most influential scientific books in Western civilization
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-407) and index
Notes Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed
Subject Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642. Dialogo dei massimi sistemi.
SUBJECT Dialogo dei massimi sistemi (Galilei, Galileo) fast
Subject Astronomy -- Early works to 1800
SCIENCE -- Astronomy.
SCIENCE -- General.
Astronomy
SUBJECT Solar system -- Early works to 1800. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85124546
Subject Solar system
Genre/Form Electronic books
Early works
Form Electronic book
Author Finocchiaro, Maurice A., 1942-
LC no. 2021696898
ISBN 9780520918221
0520918223
058505519X
9780585055190
Other Titles Dialogo dei massimi sistemi. English