Books To Get You Thinking
Each year March 8 is celebrated as International Women’s Day and, since 1987, the entire month of March has been designated as Women’s History Month all over the world. In 2018, thirty-one years later, we honor the remarkable achievements of women through the decades in diverse fields – space, science, math, business, government, sports and the arts - while recognizing the challenges and discrimination that women still face today. Celebrating women’s achievements - integrating and documenting them into the fabric of our history - serves as a catalyst to encourage young girls and young women to reach for their dreams. The theme for the 2018 Women’s History Project is Nevertheless She Persisted: Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination against Women, words that echo and reverberate in many parts of the world today. This month’s column of Books to Get You Thinking includes a selection of books in the Mercer County Library System featuring fascinating narratives of the lives of women who through time have stepped out and broken the bonds of conformity to make a difference in the world around them.
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy
Liza Mundy, a journalist with the Washington Post, authors this captivating book celebrating the achievements of the women heroes of World War II, recruited and trained secretly by the US Army and Navy to crack intricately complex Japanese and German military code systems. Ten-thousand women who demonstrated exceptional skills in math, science, English and foreign languages were selected mainly from the ranks of recent graduates from women’s colleges or talented schoolteachers. Leaving behind their families and familiar surroundings, the women went on to form the backbone of the American military intelligence infrastructure. The operation was kept secret until, seventy years later, Liza Mundy has finally brought the story to life through her in-depth research of recently declassified documents and oral histories. Interestingly, the author was also able to track down and interview twenty surviving women cryptographers from the World War II era. One of them, ninety-seven year old Dot Braden Bruce, a school teacher from Virginia, is the central character of the book. Readers are provided a glimpse into the lives of these remarkable women who stayed sequestered from their families while they worked secretly for the Army and Navy. The perseverance and tenacity of these courageous women reverberates through their stories - many of them faced the added wartime stress of having their loved ones fighting on distant shores. Their work as cryptographers played an important role in the final victory of the Allies - yet they received no glory or recognition. Once the War was over, most of them were discharged and left to return to their civilian lives back home, where women often took a back seat to men.
Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr
In 1984, Sally Ride, a physicist with a PhD from Stanford, became America’s first woman to fly in space. This compelling biography is extensively researched and based on many interviews with Ride’s family and friends. Lynn Sherr, a reporter for ABC News, extensively covered the US Space Program during the time Ride was at NASA, also becoming her good friend. Sally Ride grew up a true California girl, brought up by her liberal parents to be a citizen of the world where women were considered equal to men. An introvert and a gifted tennis player, her love for physics was matched by her fascination for space. She had plans of being a teacher but, as she was completing her PhD, NASA was opening up recruitment for women astronauts. It was a chance she could not let slip by, and in 1978 Ride was selected to join NASA. In 1983, at age thirty-two, she became the youngest and first woman to fly in space. To the world Sally Ride was best exemplified by her wide cheerful smile and twinkling blue eyes but Lynn Sherr’s beautifully written biography reveals the complex personality that lay hidden behind the smile. After the Challenger disaster of 1985, Sally Ride was part of the investigative team that studied the tragic incident. She chose to retire from NASA and went back to academics and the university. Sally Ride passed away in 2012 after a long battle with cancer but her spirit and passion for science lives on through the nonprofit organization she founded in 2001 - Sally Ride Science, a program offered through the University of California, San Diego that has inspired thousands of young girls with big ideas about the physical sciences, math, and engineering.
Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change by Ellen Pao
The daughter of immigrant parents from China, Ellen Pao was taught early in life that with dedicated hard work she could achieve anything she wanted. She graduated with three degrees from Ivy League schools in engineering, law and business and worked with startup companies in Silicon Valley. Her exceptional educational accomplishments led her to the doors of Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital firm in 2005. In this book, that was shortlisted for both the 2017 Financial Times and the McKinsey Business Book of the Year, Ellen Pao shares her story of how she and other women, as well as underrepresented groups, were systematically discriminated against in the workplace. Professional achievements and excellence at work were constantly underrated, women were frequently excluded from key meetings and events and overlooked for promotions. In 2015, Ellen Pao filed a lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination. The case was covered extensively by the media and, though the jury sided with Kleiner Perkins, Ellen Pao drew widespread attention to the bias and challenges that women face in the workplace and started a national conversation on the culture of male dominance which persists to this day. In 2016, Ellen Pao, along with other female engineers and executives, founded Project Include, a nonprofit that draws a blueprint for tech companies to bring about substantial changes by addressing bias and promoting diversity and inclusiveness in their hiring practices.
Liza Mundy, a journalist with the Washington Post, authors this captivating book celebrating the achievements of the women heroes of World War II, recruited and trained secretly by the US Army and Navy to crack intricately complex Japanese and German military code systems. Ten-thousand women who demonstrated exceptional skills in math, science, English and foreign languages were selected mainly from the ranks of recent graduates from women’s colleges or talented schoolteachers. Leaving behind their families and familiar surroundings, the women went on to form the backbone of the American military intelligence infrastructure. The operation was kept secret until, seventy years later, Liza Mundy has finally brought the story to life through her in-depth research of recently declassified documents and oral histories. Interestingly, the author was also able to track down and interview twenty surviving women cryptographers from the World War II era. One of them, ninety-seven year old Dot Braden Bruce, a school teacher from Virginia, is the central character of the book. Readers are provided a glimpse into the lives of these remarkable women who stayed sequestered from their families while they worked secretly for the Army and Navy. The perseverance and tenacity of these courageous women reverberates through their stories - many of them faced the added wartime stress of having their loved ones fighting on distant shores. Their work as cryptographers played an important role in the final victory of the Allies - yet they received no glory or recognition. Once the War was over, most of them were discharged and left to return to their civilian lives back home, where women often took a back seat to men.
Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space by Lynn SherrIn 1984, Sally Ride, a physicist with a PhD from Stanford, became America’s first woman to fly in space. This compelling biography is extensively researched and based on many interviews with Ride’s family and friends. Lynn Sherr, a reporter for ABC News, extensively covered the US Space Program during the time Ride was at NASA, also becoming her good friend. Sally Ride grew up a true California girl, brought up by her liberal parents to be a citizen of the world where women were considered equal to men. An introvert and a gifted tennis player, her love for physics was matched by her fascination for space. She had plans of being a teacher but, as she was completing her PhD, NASA was opening up recruitment for women astronauts. It was a chance she could not let slip by, and in 1978 Ride was selected to join NASA. In 1983, at age thirty-two, she became the youngest and first woman to fly in space. To the world Sally Ride was best exemplified by her wide cheerful smile and twinkling blue eyes but Lynn Sherr’s beautifully written biography reveals the complex personality that lay hidden behind the smile. After the Challenger disaster of 1985, Sally Ride was part of the investigative team that studied the tragic incident. She chose to retire from NASA and went back to academics and the university. Sally Ride passed away in 2012 after a long battle with cancer but her spirit and passion for science lives on through the nonprofit organization she founded in 2001 - Sally Ride Science, a program offered through the University of California, San Diego that has inspired thousands of young girls with big ideas about the physical sciences, math, and engineering.
The daughter of immigrant parents from China, Ellen Pao was taught early in life that with dedicated hard work she could achieve anything she wanted. She graduated with three degrees from Ivy League schools in engineering, law and business and worked with startup companies in Silicon Valley. Her exceptional educational accomplishments led her to the doors of Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital firm in 2005. In this book, that was shortlisted for both the 2017 Financial Times and the McKinsey Business Book of the Year, Ellen Pao shares her story of how she and other women, as well as underrepresented groups, were systematically discriminated against in the workplace. Professional achievements and excellence at work were constantly underrated, women were frequently excluded from key meetings and events and overlooked for promotions. In 2015, Ellen Pao filed a lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination. The case was covered extensively by the media and, though the jury sided with Kleiner Perkins, Ellen Pao drew widespread attention to the bias and challenges that women face in the workplace and started a national conversation on the culture of male dominance which persists to this day. In 2016, Ellen Pao, along with other female engineers and executives, founded Project Include, a nonprofit that draws a blueprint for tech companies to bring about substantial changes by addressing bias and promoting diversity and inclusiveness in their hiring practices.
- Nita Mathur, West Windsor Branch
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