Hidden Figures

The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

By: Margot Lee Shetterly

Narrated by: Robin Miles

The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.

Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South’s segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America’s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.

Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country’s future.

Great read on this history of our country

Wow! How is this not in the history books? Thankfully the author took the time to honor these women. Bravo!!

Dry like sand

I really wanted to LOVE this bool, but I didn't. I LOVE history, but this was too dry. Hard to pay attention in a majority of this

An amazing story, but not like the movie

Would you try another book from Margot Lee Shetterly and/or Robin Miles?

I would be more careful to understand what the author is writing about. I expected the book to be as fast-paced and dynamic as the movie. Instead, the exciting bits that fueled the movie and made it such a compelling story, visually, were few and far between. In this book, you get a broad look at segregation, including the hardships imposed on Black people, and you get a deep look at the space program and its scientific challenges, but the individual personalities of the female computers were lost in the mix. Interesting, informative and important writing in its own way, but not what I was expecting.

Was Hidden Figures worth the listening time?

Yes, for all of the reasons mentioned, above. But don't pick it up and expect it to have the pizzaz of the movie.

The movie was far more entertaining

I saw the movie first and had high expectations for the book. The ponderous detail of the book made it a struggle to complete.

A revelation of a book

Many of us outside the USA have no comprehension of the depths of discrimination endured by the black community in the last century, and we knew even less about the success and brilliance of many of its women in the scientific community.

This book opens our eyes on both counts. It is an eye opening read spotlighting a time of great success for America, and balancing it with a clear eyed look at the impact of segregation, and of sexism in the workplace - an issue that still faces many women today.

This is a good book, well written and an absorbing read from cover to cover.