Reading the Mind of God

I make no secret of the fact that I think Johannes Kepler was a far more significant scientist at the beginning of the seventeenth century than Galileo Galilei and that he contributed far more to the development of modern science in that century, second only in this aspect to Newton. Despite this, the literature about Kepler is but a fraction of that about Galileo or Newton. The title of this post is the title of a recent volume on Kepler’s life and work, which helps to redress the balance. The full title of the book is Reading the Mind of God: Johannes Kepler and the Reform of Astronomy, it was edited by A. E. L. Davis, J. V. Field, and T. J. Mahoney and published in 2024 by Springer and The Royal Astronomical Society, whose librarian Sian Prosser, who knowing my interest in Kepler, was kind enough to send me a copy. The book has a long and interesting genesis. In 2009, during the International Year of Astronomy, which was declared to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of…