GALILEO'S DAUGHTER

Despite its title, this is less the story of Galileo's eldest daughter, Sister Marie Celeste, and more the story of the scientist himself and his clashes with the Church over his heretical belief that the earth moves around the sun. George Guidall approaches this lengthy story, with its frequent excerpting of letters from daughter to father, with the marathon runner's judicious pace. He doesn't exactly hurry, but he keeps things moving, always managing to sound absorbed by the material and (when the need arises) nicely Italian in his pronunciation. Guidall's pleasant voice has an old-fashioned air, which suits this material, with its excursions into the sometimes ornate and excessively polite language of the letters, quite well. J.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 03/JAN 04]