The Pope and the Heretic: The True Story of Giordano Bruno, the Man Who Dared to Defy the Roman Inquisition

Look, the only people reading this book are intrigued by Bruno. Since there are so few books written on him in English, I think you take what you can get. This book is a fun read and adds more info and some great quotes. I enjoyed it, and I've read nearly everything in English on Bruno. Not as good as Man on Fire, or the Nolan, but good nonetheless.

It is strange, that religion and burning in the history of mankind frequently lie together so near: momentarily the assassination attempts of Islamic fundamentalists in New York, London, Madrid and elsewhere, or (on the other hand) the million humans, who became victims of the Inquisition of the catholic church in the Middle Ages. Giordano Bruno has been one of the most famous mourners. Because he questioned the Ptolomaei conception of the world of an earth, around which everything circles, and because he tried to replace the earth-centric-theory by an analysis, which postulated a lot of moving solar systems (plausibly spoken from today's view), in which there is no hierarchical order, - therefore he had to accept more and more furious attempts against his person, which wanted to force his obedience. Apparently unteachable he classified the subject not as passive nullity directed of God, but as active, self-constructing substance. The theories of the Vatican of the case of sin and of the predetermination of the fate Giordano Bruno rejected as life-strange. "The general opinion is not always the perfect truth..." Giordano Bruno today is still quoted. Such remarks produced expensive, bitter consequences: On 17 February 1600 he publicly was burned on the Campo di Fiori in Rome after eight years torture and dungeon detention. Hundreds of years the burning of disbelieving people seemed to be the major task of the Christian denomination. However today the Pope-administration gradually makes some steps backwards, remorseful: On February 18, in the year 2000, cardinal Angelo Sodano, the undersecretary of state of the Vatican, expressed the "deep regret" of the catholic church (according to ZENITH NEWS AGENCY with regard to the death sentence against Giordano Bruno) in a letter to the participants of a congress in Napoli, which took place for the memory of this Italian philosopher in the local theological faculty 2000. It was a "terrible death", "a sad episode in newer Christian history". Respect considering the dignity and the conscience of humans, who look persistently for the truth: this is a level, in the present not yet all countries, confessions or population circles succeed to manage. The book of the British science journalist Michael White ("Science editor of British GQ Magazine") was criticized by some reviewers, because it has been written in a teenager-language, less scientific, more thrilling like an adventure-story. But on the other hand it is an easily reading, you can practice before you will fall asleep. Short before snoring you can brood about the fact, that religion (connected with the aim to burn people of "wrong" confession) did not yet disappear as a pattern of acting among the earth inhabitants 400 years later...