Great humanization of Galileo -- this is the book's best part, for me -- like when a holy relic of pottery in a museum becomes a cup from which you would like to take a drink. Iconoclasts don't always set out to change the world, and The Greats weren't unrelatable geniuses, untouched by human needs.

That being said, this book is probably my least favorite of Dava Sobel's typically excellent work. Maybe it was because I was listening to the audiobook instead of reading, but the pieces never solidified into a whole for me.