Galileo was not a shy retiring type. he was not one to sit modestly in the corner and let his work speak for itself. He was someone who was proud of his accomplishments and loud about letting others know about them. His pride was not unwarrented. This biography focuses primarily on his work as a mathematician, complete with exhaustive (for me) recaps of what was known mathematically at his time, and what advances he was successful at accomplishing (this is 1/4 math review, 3/4 biography). The author then goes on the explain why this was controversial for the Catholic church in general, and the Inquisition specifically, and how Galileo's personality ramped everyone up and led to the punishments that he received. Galileo could not believe that they would shut him up--he was quite well known in his own time--and the Inquisition effectively did just that. They separated him from other mathmaticians and did not allow him to publish at the end of his life.
The book does not much cover his personal life--some spots of comments on his relationships with his children, but not much else. It is a great review of just how much the world knew about itself so long ago. I know there are numerous biographies of Galileo to read, and even another one that came out this year, but this is a very good one.
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