Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Illustrations ix
4. Acknowledgements xi
5. Introduction: Conjectural history 1
6. PART ONE: THE MIND’S EYE
7. 1. His father’s son 9
8. 2. Florence 14
9. 3. Galileo’s lamp 18
10. 4. Eureka! 22
11. 5. Seeing is believing 25
12. 6. A friend in need 30
13. 7. Juvenilia 33
14. 8. The Leaning Tower 36
15. 9. Inertia 43
16. 10. Nudism 46
17. Part Two: The watcher of the skies
18. 11. Copernicanism 51
19. 12. Money 67
20. 13. Fields of fire 70
21. 14. The experimental method 76
22. 15. The telescope 87
23. 16. Mother 93
24. 17. The Starry Messenger 96
25. 18. Florence and buoyancy 106
26. 19. Jesuits and the new astronomy 114
27. 20. Sunspots 125
28. 21. The Catholic scientist 132
29. 22. Copernicus condemned 137
30. 23. Comets 157
31. 24. The death of Gianfrancesco Sagredo 171
32. 25. Urban VIII 176
33. 26. Family ties 182
34. 27. Permission to publish 191
35. 28. Alessandra Buonamici 201
36. 29. A river floods 203
37. 30. Publication 206
38. 31. The Dialogue 208
39. Part Four: Prisoner to the Inquisition
40. 32. Maria Celeste and Arcetri 215
41. 33. Trial 218
42. 34. The Two New Sciences 229
43. 35. Vincenzo, son of Galileo 235
44. 36. Galileo’s (un)belief 240
45. 37. The cosmography of the self 251
46. Coda: Galileo, history and the historians 259
47. Notes 268
48. Bibliography 308
49. Index 320