Davia Sobel is a superlative producer of short but highly illuminating examinations of the history of science and scientists. A More Perfect Heaven is a study of Nicolaus Copernicus and his revolutionary theory, and it deserves equal plaudits with her earlier Longitude and Galileo's Daughter.
Copernicus is now a Polish national hero, but during his lifetime his nationality was often uncertain. He spent all or nearly all of his life within the borders of modern Poland, but in those days that meant he lived partly under the rule of the Polish king and partly under that of several German and Polish dukes and princes. He lived in a period of turmoil as the Protestant Reformation challenged the Roman Catholic Church and as warfare swept back and forth across Europe. But one of the most important conflicts had most of its origins within Copernicus' own head: the rise of the heliocentric theory, in which the Earth and planets orbited the Sun, to challenge the established geocentric theory in which the Earth was the center of the universe.
This was not just a scientific debate, the argument between heliocentrism and geocentrism appeared to shake the foundations of the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity, as well as centuries of accepted and approved scientific belief. Copernicus himself was a Catholic canon who depended on the good graces of various bishops in order to keep his position. For years while he worked out the details of what he was certain was the truth Copernicus kept his work a secret, and it was not until he was in his final years that a younger man convinced him to publish his theories using the new printing press technology. Controversy over his theory swirled at once and continued to do so after Copernicus' death as other astronomers like Tycho and Kepler and Galileo added details in support of heliocentrism. The Catholic Church placed Copernicus' writings and those of some of his supporters in the Index, where they remained for some 300 years.
Sobel's superb recreation of Copernicus' life and the world in which he lived makes A More Perfect Heaven a pleasure to read. Besides the usual elegant writing and the keen eye for a telling anecdote which we have come to expect from Sobel, there is an additional attraction in the form of a play depicting Copernicus' relationship with his collaborator Rheticus. I thoroughly enjoyed A More Perfect Heaven and intend to reread it many times.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2011
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Great writing on a subject that is badly understood
Reviewed in Canada on February 18, 2017
Ottawa Canada consumer
Fascinating and well-written
Reviewed in Canada on October 24, 2016