Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures

by Margot Lee Shetterly

The Top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
Oscar Nominated For Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay

Set amid the civil rights movement, the never-before-told true story of NASA's African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America's space program.

Before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as 'Human Computers', calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts, these 'colored computers' used pencil and paper to write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Moving from World War II through NASA's golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the women's rights movement, Hidden Figures interweaves a rich history of mankind's greatest adventure with the intimate stories of five courageous women whose work forever changed the world.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

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I am not a non-fiction reader, but I do love science, and this story was quite interesting. Sheerly didn't just tell the story of these women, but she compiled a whole lot of history. This book had women's history, black history, american history, aviation history, and it was woven together with the stories of these particular women quite nicely.

Overall: very enlightening and interesting read

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 3 February, 2017: Finished reading
  • 3 February, 2017: Reviewed