Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Yesterday I finished listening to Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures:  The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race (the whole book, not just the title).  I wanted to read it before I saw the movie–I like to know what’s true and what’s not from the get-go–and I was pleasantly surprised to see that, unlike so much of the nonfiction that interests me, Hidden Figures was available to borrow immediately.

Now I know why.

Don’t get me wrong–I found it thoroughly interesting, and I’m definitely glad I read (listened to!) it.  It’s just that in the course of describing what the women in the title did, how their careers progressed, and what kind of achievements they were involved in, Shetterly couldn’t really avoid language that was more technical than I prefer when I’m exercising and can’t see the text of the book.  (Or, you know, more technical than I generally use, period.)  All of the different kinds of sonics–supersonic, and hypersonic, and ALL THE SONICS–plus the topics of reports authored or coauthored by some of the women, and the focus of the different groups they were (eventually) assigned to, were hard to conceptualize for me; I never took physics and calculus was over 20 years ago at this point.  I’m not sure I’d call it inaccessible, but I wouldn’t call it solidly accessible, either.  (I guess you can do with that what you will.)

Besides the technicality of the content, however, it also occurs to me that I had slightly skewed expectations of the book’s focus.  I think I was expecting more the drama of “Apollo 13” (the movie, although I did read the book once upon a time), but to get a good sense of Hidden Figures, you have to pay attention to both parts of the subtitle.  Overall, I’d recommend it–I learned all kinds of things I didn’t know, and it did keep me interested–but I don’t think audio is the best way to experience it.  (You’re also going to want to read it at a time and in a place where you can focus without much by way of distraction.)  Let me know what you think when you read it!