Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Hidden Figures comes to mind immediately. What else can you find?

Listopia link: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

The Calculating Stars

Lab Girl has been sitting in my TBR for a while now.

I'd think anything by Mary Roachwould work. I've been wanting to read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers forever.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I’m reading it this year for another challenge, but I think it would work.

I first thought of Bad Blood about Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes for nonfiction, and then also Chemistry by Weike Wang.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women - on my Kindle to read.

I haven't read it yet, but I have Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men which may discuss women in STEM.

I have been meaning to read Hidden Figures. This prompt is the perfect opportunity!

I Second the recommendation for The Calculating Stars! Elma is a mathematician and WASP pilot who is trying to become an astronaut. She does very important calculations.

The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars

Ada's Algorithm: How Lord Byron's Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age

They are children's books, but both were great, they take place in NM during and right after WWII:
The Green Glass Sea
White Sands, Red Menace

The Kiss Quotient (the character works in math)

Also, Flavia is just a girl, not a woman, but she is completely into Chemistry in the Alan Bradley series. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars
Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout

Lab Girl is SO GOOD. I would recommend the audio book for anyone who enjoys it - it's read by the author and it's so beautiful to listen to her read her own story.

I believe any of the Temperance Brennan books by Kathy Reichs would work for this category. They are true crime novels and the main character is a forensic anthropologist

Melissa wrote: "I believe any of the Temperance Brennan books by Kathy Reichs would work for this category. They are true crime novels and the main character is a forensic anthropologist"

And Kathy Reichs herself is a forensic anthropologist

Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone This sounds really interesting book!

the millenium series fits in this prompt?

I'm thinking of reading A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer A. Doudna, it's about CRISPR. I didn't know the TV show Bones was based on a book series, I'm definitely interested in giving them a shot!

Song of the Sea Maid
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Rocket Girls
Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon
Gorillas in the Mist
Annihilation

Technically anthropology is classified as humanities (or sometimes social science) not STEM. I'm all in favour of interpretation of prompts as you want, though.
I'll plug Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy because I think everyone should read it, and it's gripping and funny.
Also either of Angela Saini's books - she is a science journalist, which I would count. And Zoe Quinn has both graphic novel series and a non-fiction book about cyber bullying which would be great to pick up.
I'm really thrilled about this prompt - most pop science published is by men, and I hope this helps encourage publishers to look at more women.
Oh, and Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ and Gisela Kaplan's book on Australian birds are fabulous for Australians in particular.

Alison wrote: "Technically anthropology is classified as humanities (or sometimes social science) not STEM. I'm all in favour of interpretation of prompts as you want, though.
I'll plug [book:Weapons of Math Dest..."

I respectfully disagree. Most Anthropology programs offer both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science option reflecting Cultural vs Physical Anthropology. To not call Physical Anthropologists, such as Forensic Anthropologists or Archeologists, scientists is disrespectful to the methods that these professions use everyday.

I'm going with Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl

For people looking for fiction books, The Lexi Carmichael series is one of my favorites. The books spend a fair amount of time on the theme of a woman working in a male dominated field (in a light hearted way).
No One Lives Twice

There's always The Only Woman in the Room about Heddy Lamar, actress/scientist!

Lindsay wrote: "I'm going with Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl"

I LOVED this book! It was so charming and you can tell how much she truly loved Wesley.

I'm thinking Sheryl Sandberg Lean In for this one..

Talie - no disrespect taken, or for that matter intended towards Anthropologists. IThanks for clarifying. was unaware it was the case in the US- in my country a BSC is not routinely offered as an option. For the record, I am concerned not because I don't believe anthropology (or humanities and social sciences subjects for that matter) don't involve core science, but because many don't realise that STEM funding has a limited set of beneficiaries, which excludes many subjects - especially those dominated by female academics - that most people assume would be science. I suspect you and I would be in agreement on much of this.

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II

Nancy wrote: "I'd think anything by Mary Roachwould work. I've been wanting to read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers forever."

Stiff is a brilliant book, I read it couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it

Alison wrote: "Technically anthropology is classified as humanities (or sometimes social science) not STEM. I'm all in favour of interpretation of prompts as you want, though.
I'll plug [book:Weapons of Math Dest..."

Forensics requires a science degree, forensic anthropology is forensics on old remains, rather than the study of culture.

Chrissi wrote: "The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women - on my Kindle to read.

I haven't read it yet, but I have [book:Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men|4..."

Radium Girls was AMAZING on audio!!

I can't believe I was so stumped by this one! I have a bunch of Stargate tie-in novels sitting on my shelf and waiting for me to find excuses to read them. Any book featuring Samantha Carter (engineer) or Janet Fraser (doctor) will work.

Lauren James has a master in Chemistry in Physics, so her books would fit this prompt. I recommend The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

If you like reading books for middle readers, I recommend Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World:

I've really been wanting to read Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. It seems to fit here!

I have The Calculating Stars already penciled in for a different challenge. The only other book in my TBR that stands out to me for this is Thunderhead about an archeologist in the field. I'm guessing that's stretching it a bit too far?

Few choices for this one for me:
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
The Calculating Stars
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
The Kiss Quotient

There are several books on Rosalind Franklin which would work for this one like: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA

She was a crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA*. Three of the men who used her data to propose the structure received the Nobel Prize while she did not (it would have to have been posthumously awarded as she died at 37). I've been meaning to read it for a while now. My husband highly recommends it.

*I stole that line from wikipedia :)

According to a Goodreads list I found, Into the Drowning Deep qualifies. Guess I read it and find out...

Alison wrote: "Talie - no disrespect taken, or for that matter intended towards Anthropologists. IThanks for clarifying. was unaware it was the case in the US- in my country a BSC is not routinely offered as an o...".
Sorry I took that off on a tangent. I work with a bunch of archeologists so I'm pretty aware that they consider themselves scientists.

To your point I hadn't really thought a whole lot about funding for STEM. I think around here, at least with regards to K-12 funding, the STEM funding goes towards very general science curriculum that are the building blocks (or robotics programs to promote the engineering aspects). I'm not really sure at the university level. It would make sense that it might go more towards more traditional science and engineering courses.

Forensic Anthropology is an interesting one because I suspect a lot of the curriculum would mirror what you would see someone in the medical profession take. So it would be funded in sort of sideways fashion.

And yes in the US there does tend to be a distinction between physical and cultural anthropology. Anthropology majors would take a little of both but would typically choose an emphasis in one or the other. I suspect some universities might have even more specialized emphasis in archeology or forensics.

Thanks for the engaging conversation! :)

Kenya wrote: "According to a Goodreads list I found, Into the Drowning Deep qualifies. Guess I read it and find out..."

Definitely. A ship full of scientists and most of them are women.

Brittany wrote: "There are several books on Rosalind Franklin which would work for this one like: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA"

WooHoo Rosalind Franklin!

The Tenth Muse
The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science
Chemistry

If you did not read it this year, Where the Crawdads Sing is by zoologist Delia Owens!

I read radium girls this year and don’t think it will work for this prompt as the girls paint dials on watches and don’t work in STEM.

Chrissi wrote: "The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women - on my Kindle to read.

I haven't read it yet, but I have [book:Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men|4..."

I’m thinking about this one, the author is a chemist.
Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

I haven’t read it yet thank you!!!

i>Gina wrote: "If you did not read it this year, Where the Crawdads Sing is by zoologist Delia Owens!"

if 12 can be considered a woman I would say Flavia de Luce is certainly a woman of science.

Gina wrote: "If you did not read it this year, Where the Crawdads Sing is by zoologist Delia Owens!"

Delia Owens and her husband also co-wrote several nonfiction books:
The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness
Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People
Cry of the Kalahari (which was apparently so controversial that it got them kicked out of Botswana...makes me kinda want to use it as a banned book).

Jane Goodall's In the Shadow of Man