Diversity in All Forms! discussion

March Bonus Read- Women's History Month

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

Fantastic book!

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "Fantastic book!"

I really liked the movie, but I haven't felt the need to read the book. What do you think? It was nominated by my local book club, and if it wins we'll read in later in the year.

I really enjoyed reading it. There is a lot of history. I did not see the movie, but there is a lot of stuff in the book, some of which moved me to tears sometimes.

I copied some of my own review below, because it says what I thought:

The book is an excellent history of NASA, and an even better history of some of the Black women who quietly went about their work as mathematicians and engineers without recognition or appropriate pay or titles despite having the same college degrees and work expectations when hired at the same time as the men (many hitting the glass ceiling quickly).

The book also includes a short history of the civil rights movement from the 1940’s to the 1970’s. This linkage is appropriate because it all happened in lockstep; the women, many of whom were college educated, working in exotic (to me) maths which were building airplanes, rockets, and eventually, helping men walk on the moon, often in ten-hour days, still had to live outside of the grounds of Langley because of laws designed for slaves restricting where they could live, eat, or travel. Women who were plotting launches had to sit at the back of the bus. Heaven help them if they needed a restroom and none were available that had the sign ‘for colored’. Golf courses and hotel conferences and restaurants where white male engineers and their bosses relaxed and discussed work problems forbid access to Black people. Everyone went, “oh well”, until the civil rights movement began.

I have it on my Kindle. I have a couple of new books from the Library that have a return deadline - but after those, this one is my next read. I'm really looking forward to it!

My husband read it but I haven't gotten to it yet. The difference between the book and the movie is that they force a narrative on the events for the movie that isn't there in the book. It's also my understanding that the "White Savior" moment with the white supervisor played by Kevin Costner never happened, and was made up for the movie.

I've got this as an audiobook and plan to get to it after I finish the one I'm currently listening to!

NancyJ wrote: "aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "Fantastic book!"

I really liked the movie, but I haven't felt the need to read the book. What do you think? It was nominated by my local book club, and if it win..."

The book is the REAL story and the WHOLE story. The movie, while good, could only gloss on the story.

As Kristen said, the book was real, and I liked it for that reason.

Kirsten wrote: "The book is the REAL story and the WHOLE story. The movie, while good, could only gloss on the story."

Thanks for the extra motivational kick Kirsten! It WAS selected by my book club and we'll read in the summer. I do love to read about real jobs and interactions at work, and women's issues, leadership, diversity issues in organizations, etc., so I think I'll like the book better (I usually do).

I wasn't thinking of this book at the time, but look what I ordered today. Coincidence?

I brought and read this book on the back of really enjoying the movie at the cinema, the film gives a nice snapshot of the era but up the novel is far more in depth.
I think it’s important that movies help reach these types of stories to a wider audience, It’s well worth reading if the film has peaked your interest just like it had mine.

Hi, everyone: While I have not seen the film, the book is surely well worth the read even for those who have seen the film, since novels can show thoughts in ways that film cannot. I loved this book right from the prologue : part of the American epic, in larger context.

Also, I don't know if the film mentioned A. Philip Randolph and the 20 year runup to March on Washington ?
Best,
Shira

I got the book and it's next on my agenda after I finish the book I'm in the middle of. The movie was powerful and I'm looking forward to seeing how the book compares to it.

I really liked this book. It goes into a lot more depth than the movie, and covers a much longer time period. It taught me stuff about the early civil rights movement I didn’t know (I don’t think A Philip Randolph was mentioned in the movie, which condensed everything into the time period around the successful planetary orbit and the race to the moon). It’s fascinating to think about the connection between technology, civil rights and women’s rights and how much world politics influenced American policy.

It also made the horrifying realities of segregation much more real to me. The movie did this too, but the book goes into much more depth about the housing, transportation, purchasing and educational issues segregation created.

Megan wrote: "It also made the horrifying realities of segregation much more real to me. The movie did this too, but the book goes into much more depth about the housing, transportation, purchasing and education..."

I agree. The author both shows segregation, and also does a good bit of foreshadowing that brings tears to my eyes frequently, like A Philip Randolph to the 20 years later March on Washington seating the seeds the doctor King, and who know that these women and the work they were doing Would One Day lead to the Moon. Excellent context and moving emotionally at the same time.

I agree, the foreshadowing with A Philips Randolph's proposed March on Washington and Dr. King's later March was very moving.

I'm getting to this a little bit late, but can recommend the audiobook version. The reader is very good.

I usually have mixed feelings about an author injecting herself into a nonfiction book, but I really liked that Shetterly talks about growing up near Langley and just accepting it as common that black people would be scientists and engineers, and how she only realized much later how unusual the area was in that way.

After seeing the movie, I was really excited to read the book. It's usually the other way around and if anything, I'm usually disappointed in the movie. For the first time in my life, I have to say that I thought the movie was better. It stayed more focused on a cohesive story. The book jumped around from one person to another. It was chock full of facts but didn't present them in a way that kept me interested.

I'm listening to this as an audiobook and am about 80 percent done with it. I feel like recommending the movie over the book really does a disservice to potential readers. The movie is fun, but you really need to think of it as fiction lightly inspired by the book. The filmmakers will take one line from the book and turn it into a scene with a bunch of made up dialogue.

My husband read this before me, and we do agree that jumping around from one person's story to another made it hard to track who was who in the story. On the other hand, I love that the book is the REAL story of the women, not some Hollywood presentation with a white savior added to make it more palatable to general audiences.

I also appreciate that the book put the women's accomplishments into historical and cultural context.

I agree with you Sarah that the book was nonfiction. Nevertheless, I felt it was not written in an accessible way. There is too much jumping around from one person to another giving us tidbits about various people involved who weren't that important to the story. Many of these details were boring and it made the book hard for me to follow. A nonfiction book can still zero in on the lives of three or four people and tell a cohesive story. I felt that the book didn't do that while the movie did. Of course the dialogue was manufactured. No one remembers everything that's said but it's hoped that the dialogue is similar to what would have occurred. I considered it dramatic license. We know it was fiction based on a true story. In my opinion, it was well done and inspiring.