Rise of the Rocket Girls

The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars

De: Nathalia Holt

Narrado por: Erin Bennett

The riveting true story of the women who launched America into space.

In the 1940s and 50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male graduates. Rather, they recruited an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible.

For the first time, Rise of the Rocket Girls tells the stories of these women -- known as "human computers" -- who broke the boundaries of both gender and science. Based on extensive research and interviews with all the living members of the team, Rise of the Rocket Girls offers a unique perspective on the role of women in science: both where we've been, and the far reaches of space to which we're heading.

"If Hidden Figures has you itching to learn more about the women who worked in the space program, pick up Nathalia Holt's lively, immensely readable history, Rise of the Rocket Girls." -- Entertainment Weekly

Reseñas de la Crítica

A New York Times bestseller
A Los Angeles Times bestseller
An Amazon Best Book of 2016
An Entertainment Weekly "10 Books You Have to Read in April"
An Elle "8 Books by Women for Bill Gates to Read This Summer"
Goodreads Choice Awards finalist

"Illuminating...these women are vividly depicted at work, at play, in and out of love, raising children--and making history. What a team--and what a story!"
—Gene Seymour, USA Today (3.5 stars/4)

"The women's stories are fun, intense, and endearing, and they give a new perspective on the rise of the space age."—Popular Science

"A marvelous book.... When Neil Armstrong made his 'giant leap for mankind,' there was womankind in the control room."
—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

"Immersive, evocative.... Superbly readable.... Holt's poignant narrative should be required reading."
—Maya Gittelman, Bookreporter

"Holt investigates the fascinating lives and important contributions of these women, who defied the sexist stereotypes of their times to play pivotal roles in sending the first rockets beyond Earth."
—Scientific American

"An intriguing account of the young, female 'human computers' who worked at Caltech's JPL. Be inspired by their work on America's first satellite and other groundbreaking projects, against the social backdrop of the Space Age, slowly changing gender norms, and the dawn of computers."—Estelle Tang, Elle, "5 Books That You Can Read With Your Mom"

"Holt argues that these women's calculations played an under-appreciated part in NASA's towering achievements.... Here, math is dramatic, not mundane. Calculating is a physical, even athletic, act.... Holt depicts the human computers' life stories vividly."
—Jennifer Light, Nature

"Women were obviously just as vital to innovation and progress. Rise of the Rocket Girls proves that by reexamining the space age-specifically, the group of women who redesigned rocket science in the '40s and '50s and made that 'one small step for man' possible in the first place."
—Isabella Biedenharn, Christian Holub, Dana Getz, Entertainment Weekly

"NASA's 'Rocket Girls' are no longer forgotten history. Thanks to a new book, these female pioneers who helped the U.S. win the space race are finally getting their due... Holt documents the lives of these women, who were not only pioneers in their profession, but also in their personal lives."
—Naomi Shavin, Smithsonian

"A must read for any women in tech or interested in technology!"—Girls Who Code

Women in Science

Similar to Hidden Figures and The Code Girls. Same time frame WWII cold War era. But these are different women. Based at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena facing similar problems of women working in a man's world.But this group was more educated and followed them as they had children and raised families. I always wonder where the world would be if men hadn't suppressed half of the population and refused them education. You read about what these small groups of women did when the need was there and I just wonder. What breakthroughs in science and medicine could have been reached if we hadn't suppressed women through the ages.

#SucessStories #Inspiring #ColdWar #WomenInScience #TagsGiving #Sweepstakes

Excellent!!

This was a very interesting book. It is an amazing story of a group of hard working women who were pioneers in what was generally considered a man's profession. Their dedication, intelligence and work ethic, at a time in history when women generally did not work outside the house, was remarkable. I would highly recommend it.

Thoroughly enjoyed!

As a woman who started working in tech in 1987, this was welcome insight into the shoulders of giants I am grateful to have stood upon. I sometimes feel we, as professional women, haven’t made enough progress. And we haven’t but this was a pleasant reminder of just how far we have come. Thank you!

More like diary entries than a story

Interesting subject matter but more of a historical who’s who. Dates of successes and failed experiments. Chronological presentation of the politics and science of the space race. Details on dress colors and sleeve lengths worn. Who was dating and marrying whom. I got bored when none of the details ever reappeared or tied back into the narrative. Actually, I didn’t find any narrative to hold the information together.

Should have been very interesting, but, not.

I’ve listened to about half. Better suited for middle school/high school reading. Even the narrator made it should like a young adult book.
Will look for something more depth on this topic.

Fascinating

This is a fascinating account of women's positions within the tech world when it was in its infancy. Where their contributions were coming from along with where they were not supposed to be coming from. And, how our culture at the time required them to leave jobs and make a home once they were married and/or had children. It made me reflect on my mother and grandmother and what their position within the world was 'supposed to be' during this time and how it was so different from my own. The book was very exciting to learn how the rocket program grew but also the women's roles. It made me go back and rewatch the movie "Hidden Figures" and start discovering other stories to learn more.

Important history

While the writing leaves something to be desired, the subject matter is excellent and sheds light on women who should not be forgotten.

A must read

I give this as many stars as there are in the universe. As a woman in STEM inspired by a visit to NASA, this was amazing, inspiring, and outstanding.

History that needs to be told

The core idea is great about the often overlooked contribution the female "computers" made to space exploration and it is a story that deserves to be highlighted. My only niggle is with the profusion of scientific innaccuracies and linguistic oddities in the text. A few examples: doppler shift is used to measure distance (admittedly true on galactic distances, not as a general principle), stony meteors burn to ash when they encounter flammable gasses in the atmosphere, spacecraft in transition between planetary encounters are suddenly in orbit around the sun and, my favourite, "a series of successes, each one building on the next" (you get the idea but surely they build on the previous). Still, my nit picking aside, a well researched and approchable narrative.

Interesting/important history but poorly written

This is an interesting look into a little-known (though just about to be Hollywood blockbuster) story of female 'computers' working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). The computers, as they were known, were people who computed the calculations needed for the complex engineering and scientific space missions undertaken by the US Government and later NASA. Starting with rocket design and moving to trajectories, interplanetary communications, orbits, scientific studies of atmospheres, and exploring other planets, these women were the backbone of the success (and fixers of the failures) of those early years of space exploration. More importantly, they were also the first women brought into the space program, the trailblazers for future generations of scientists, engineers and computer programmers who work for NASA today (and the JPL is still the highest employer of women within NASA today). This is their story, laid out by decade, running through a laundry list of space missions and milestones from pre-Sputnik to the Mars rovers.

The book is detailed and interesting, going through both the personal and professional lives of the women involved. Broken into decades, it flows naturally through the space race and into the era of scientific exploration. The downside is that there are just a few too many characters and missions, making it hard to keep track of who is who and who is working on what. This is not helped in the early chapters by the proliferation of nicknames, some giving the ladies men's names, some giving the men ladies' names. The focus on the homelife in the early years also felt like a drag. I wanted to learn about the science they were doing, not the struggles of raising children or wondering if their husbands would like their new dresses. I know, this is the classic story of the struggles of women in second wave feminism and pushing on a closed door (let alone a glass ceiling), but the book was marketed a bit more like a focus on their work not their home lives. Can't have one without the other I suppose, but I was more engaged with the book when the focus was on the science and innovations, and when later in the book the focus became less on the personal than the professional.

In terms of an audio book, the narration wasn't my favourite. The narrator was slow, had a few mis-pronunciations, and seemed to be more excited about the relationships than the science. It could have just been the way the old-time nicknames and 1950's domestic stories come across, but it sounded like an out of date 1950s sitcom.

Overall I'd recommend it to someone interested in the space program or in the role of women in early science institutions. But perhaps get the paperback, not the audio book.