Do you have room for some new books on your bookshelf? Check out The Ultimate Women in Science Reading List by Dale Debacksy!
Here are a few of Dale’s recommendations:
#78. Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age. Kurt W. Beyer, 2012
#82. Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician and Martyr. Michael A.B. Deakin, 2007
I like this book not only as a look at the people who fought to preserve the mathematics of classical antiquity against the encroaching darkness of religious fanaticism, but also because in the appendices Deakin has reproduced the only original sources we have as to how precisely Hypatia died.
#57. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. Brenda Maddox, 2002
Is it my favorite book ever about any woman scientist? It is. Poignant and scientifically thorough, it’s a book I’ll come back to every five years and find new things to enjoy. If you get just one book on this list, it should be this one.
#50. A Passion for Space: Adventures of a Pioneering Female NASA Flight Controller. Marianne J. Dyson, 2016
Another book that is hard to find, but as a portrait of what it was like to be a NASA flight controller in the years when NASA was just figuring out what its policy about women was it is indispensable in the history of gender in science and space exploration.
#33. Lady With a Spear. Eugenie Clark, 1951
This is one of those foundational books in the history of women in science. So many modern marine biologists cite it as a profound influence on them, and their ability to imagine themselves as scientists, and its sense of wonder and awe are still plainly there for those who seek it.
Enjoy!