Rachel Swaby

So I enjoyed this book. Being not terribly into science I only knew a handful of the women described here. At times Swaby relies a little too much on the reader having prior knowledge so the women's accomplishments seem glossed over. In addition what few facts I did know seemed to not have been deemed important enough to include.

I was also surprised by the fact, at the very least, Marie Curie wasn't included. I'm not sure what criteria Swaby used to choose the women however so I'm sure there was a reason. Also, as another reviewer mentioned, this was heavily Caucasian centric. Again, I'm not into science so maybe the field is heavily skewed towards white women, but it seemed...odd.

Regardless this would make for a good recommendation to a young girl interested in science. There's a good accounting for all the kinds of sciences to act as a jumping off point for further discussion or research.… (mer)

While there's no doubt that all 52 of the amazing woman covered in this book are more than deserving of recognition (I've never heard of most of them) there is the matter of quality over quantity. Each of these woman's achievements we're covered in about two or three pages and they all left me wanting more. I couldn't help but feel this book would have been a more enjoyable reading experience if the author had narrowed down the selection to a round number, of lets say 10. And then dedicated more time to flesh out and further discuss how they were able to change science and the world deposit all the obstacles placed in their way.… (mer)