Galileo Galilei (1564 1642) is widely recognized as one of the greatest scientific thinkers in history. Intriguingly, when offered a place in the Medici court in 1610, he requested the title of -Philosopher and Chief Mathematician.- Reading Nature s Book: Galileo and the Birth of Modern Philosophy is the first book-length study written with undergraduates in mind that examines the philosophical implications (both theoretical and historical) of Galileo s scientific discoveries, including many matters that were later taken up by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophers. This...