My interest in women in science started 18 years ago, when I became a tenure-track assistant professor. I began to experience the difficulties of being a woman in science in my new position. I knew there must be a reason for it. I read everything I could find on the role of women, not just in science but in society. I’ve been reading and writing about it since then, and while some progress has been made, there’s still a long way to go. The books on this list are a good start, giving readers a sense of how long women have been fighting for equality and what we can do to move things forward.
I loved this book because it deftly communicated the author’s love of botany and the challenges facing it as a science.
I was introduced to a whole new world: that of plants and their role in our ecosystems. I also enjoyed the story about Zimmerman’s fieldwork in Guyana and how she wasn’t really cut out for fieldwork, but was good at organizing things for their trip home.
I recommend this book if you want to get inside knowledge of the university, including how poorly women are often treated—especially when they are pregnant and/or nursing. Zimmerman also brings to life the world of botany and how it’s becoming a dying science just when we need it the most.
"Evolutionary botanist Zimmerman discusses her passion for plants and inveighs against sexism in the sciences in her marvelous debut memoir...Throughout, Zimmerman’s enthusiasm and expertise make the science accessible even to those without a background in the subject. The results are as edifying as they are galvanizing." - Publishers Weekly STARRED Review
"Erin Zimmerman has exposed a rooted gender failure in science. Her book is important not for this alone. Her work is essential for understanding the future resilience of all flora on this planet." -Diana Beresford-Kroeger, author of To Speak for the Trees
An exploration of science, motherhood, and academia,…
While there has been some controversy about the science in Simard’s book, there’s no doubt that it’s a great read that juxtaposes Simard’s personal life with her scientific life.
I was drawn to her personal story, which takes place in both government and academic spheres. I cried with her when her brother passed away, and I was proud with her when her daughter said she might want to study forestry at university.
The mix of science and memoir works well in this book, showing how the two are inextricably entwined. I was impressed by how hard Simard worked to keep her family together, particularly when she was a professor at UBC in Vancouver, and they were living in Nelson.
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest—a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery
“Finding the Mother Tree reminds us that the world is a web of stories, connecting us to one another. [The book] carries the stories of trees, fungi, soil and bears--and of a human being listening in on the conversation. The interplay of personal narrative, scientific insights and the amazing revelations about the life of the forest make a compelling story.”—Robin Wall…
I found that the length of Colwell’s career has given her a depth of experience that shines a light on just how bad science was for women even in the 1950s and 60s.
We sometimes forget that women have been discriminated against for decades, even as they’ve fought hard-won battles to be treated fairly. I appreciated Colwell’s detailed narrative of her science, too, and how the challenge of finding a solution to a scientific problem led to much celebration when that solution was found.
I also liked that she told stories of other women in science, like Nancy Hopkins at MIT, who worked tirelessly for equality for women at her institution.
A "beautifully written" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) memoir-manifesto from the first female director of the National Science Foundation about the entrenched sexism in science, the elaborate detours women have take to bypass the problem, and how to fix the system.
If you think sexism thrives only on Wall Street or Hollywood, you haven't visited a lab, a science department, a research foundation, or a biotech firm.
Rita Colwell is one of the top scientists in America: the groundbreaking microbiologist who discovered how cholera survives between epidemics and the former head of the National Science Foundation. But when she first applied…
I liked that Jahren told the unvarnished truth of her experience in academia; like Zimmerman, she also shares how academia treats pregnant people.
She talks about training the next generation of scientists, which is one of the main goals of the scientific enterprise.
Though I wasn’t impressed with the hazing ritual she and her lab manager had for new students in the lab, I did appreciate the excellent writing and well-paced narrative. Jahren is a stunning writer, and her book is neatly separated into sections about a tree, followed by a chapter about life mimicking that tree.
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER •NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Geobiologist Hope Jahren has spent her life studying trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Lab Girl is her revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also a celebration of the lifelong curiosity, humility, and passion that drive every scientist.
"Does for botany what Oliver Sacks’s essays did for neurology, what Stephen Jay Gould’s writings did for paleontology.” —The New York Times
In these pages, Hope takes us back to her Minnesota childhood, where she spent hours in unfettered play in her father’s college laboratory. She tells us how she found a sanctuary…
I enjoyed the arc of Elkins-Tanton’s life because it wasn’t all spent in science. She showed how her few years in business and teaching math at a college after her MSc gave her skills helpful for doing her PhD.
I particularly liked the insights she provided into being a woman in an executive position and the ways in which she had to learn to serve her research community. It is rare for a woman to reach these administrative levels, so it’s highly valuable to get the inside scoop about it.
I was also struck by her innovative techniques in teaching and research in planetary science—we have much to learn from her approach.
From one of the world’s leading planetary scientists, a luminous memoir of exploration on Earth, in space, and within oneself—equal parts ode to the beauty of science, meditation on loss, and roadmap for personal resilience
"Fierce, absorbing, and ultimately inspiring." —ELIZABETH KOLBERT
"[A] riveting book, beautifully written." —Washington Post
Named a Best Book of the Year by Christian Science Monitor and Science News
Deep in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, three times farther from the sun than the Earth is, orbits a massive asteroid called (16) Psyche. It is one of the largest objects in the belt, potentially…
Meltdown is about the amazing landscapes of the Arctic and Western Canada, where I had exciting fieldwork adventures; the struggle to be a woman in science—particularly one who is a writer on the side; and the perils of mental illness that can cut you off from your existing community.
It chronicles my life in science, from my undergraduate degree to when I became a professor, and the challenges I faced along the way. Meltdown weaves scientific facts with fieldwork stories and the inclusion of historical and present-day women who were my mentors on my scientific journey.
