A Guest Post - Nobel Prize Women in Science

Title: Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries
Author: Sharon Bertsch McGrayne
Publisher: Citadel Press; Rev Sub edition (September 1998)

ISBN-10: 0806520256
ISBN-13: 978-0806520254

Review:
I'm kind of a physics geek.  I love reading about Astronomy and Quantum Physics, and Nuclear Physics and the like, but even though I have this interest in science, I was woefully ignorant that so many of the most revolutionary things in science were discovered by women!  I also had no idea what many of these women were up against, in terms of adversity.  It would be hard enough to make these discoveries in and of themselves, but add onto that elitism, sexism, antisemitism, plagiarism, etc. and you've got some pretty fabulous work.

Before beginning this book there were a few things that I knew prior to reading, such as who Marie Curie was and her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie.  But there was so much that I learned about who these women, the obstacles they had to over come and their contributions to science. I was absolutely amazed!

The author breaks down a dozen or so stories of these women, telling really enjoyable stories of the scientist's upbringing, their personalities, and also the work they contributed to science.  She is able to bring the women to life by writing about their character, and able to make the science interesting and approachable for a layman as well.

I really loved this book, and now I want to learn a lot more about things in which I am ignorant...which is a lot!

A Light and Engaging Read - East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

I thought that beginning a blog about the books I’ve read was a great way for me to keep track of what I’ve read, as well as sharing my reading disasters and joys with others.

So with that in mind, here’s my first entry.  I just finished reading East of the Sun by Julia Gregson.  On the whole, this book was entertaining and easy to read (a pleasure as I’d just made my way through a much denser text).  It tells the story of three girls who are headed to India for varying reasons.  Their friendship grows on the cruise and blossoms further while they are in Bombay.  The writer uses a familiar technique to relay the story, using the voices of multiple characters.  On the whole, this strategy works quite well and really helped me to see how the characters evolved throughout the book.  In particular, I found one character (Tor) to be quite abominable for the first third of the book, but as you watched her evolve, she became much more likeable and was arguably my favorite character by the time the book ended.  It also enables readers to explore in depth the girls’ differing experiences, to see how acculturating to India depends on your status and reason for being there in the first place.  The plot was quite predictable, but this didn’t really matter as long as you simply immersed yourself in the girls’ new lives.  If you’re heading out on vacation and need something quite easy to read, consider picking this one up—I'm sure it will engage you.

3/5 Stars