I have been interested in learning more about Artemisia Gentileschi for a few years no, ever since I used to listen to Feminist Backtalk all the time,I have been interested in learning more about Artemisia Gentileschi for a few years no, ever since I used to listen to Feminist Backtalk all the time, whose host loved Artemisia's story and talked about her frequently. I even backed a different graphic biography on Kickstarter, and was a bit confused when I saw this one at the library. I had to check it out.
This was heavier on the "the times" than I expected, and there were some times when I got a little impatient with ALL the details — being a graphic novel had given me some expectations about how academic/rigorous/thorough I expected the book to be, and it took a little time to break out of those expectations. Breezy this book is not — both on account of the subject matter and how seriously the author takes all of it.
Basically, I learned so much more than I expected to. About Artemisia (I am using her first name because she was not the only artist in the family, though I think it's safe to say she is now the most remembered), art, and the Renaissance. I appreciated the perspective brought by the author — also a woman, artist, and survivor of sexual abuse. Unabashedly feminist, this book is up-front about its biases, and also exhaustively researched.
A fascinating bit of history to shine new light on what we think we know about the past. ...more
I had been curious about Vowell's books for ages, and finally got around to picking this one up as a part of my current trend on reading about the AmeI had been curious about Vowell's books for ages, and finally got around to picking this one up as a part of my current trend on reading about the American Revolution. Vowell has become known for her associative, nearly stream-of-consciousness style that sometimes feels like an NPR radio segment or nerdy podcast. Most of the time it really worked for me -- especially as she's talking about how Lafayette's legacy has changed over the history of America -- her asides on Pennsylvania Quakers and Colonial Williamsburg re-enactors is actually pretty on topic.
I did sometimes wish for more straightforward biographical information on Lafayette -- but any good non-fiction book should leave you wanting to learn more, right? And this book made me want to learn more about Lafayette, Washington, and the general course of the war. It's becoming increasingly clear that most of my Revolutionary knowledge is about the statesmen and the causes -- very little about the war itself.
I picked this up at the library for my Hamilton-obsessed son, but after he read it, he insisted that I read it, too. It is, of course, a short graphicI picked this up at the library for my Hamilton-obsessed son, but after he read it, he insisted that I read it, too. It is, of course, a short graphic novel aimed at middle grade readers, so things are abbreviated and simplified, but it is so energetic! and fun! And certainly filled out my rather limited knowledge on someone who was certainly a major player in the American Revolution.
Enjoyable. I think a lot of kids would like it, especially those obsessed with Hamilton. As for me, it finally provided that little push to motivate me to get a copy of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States that I'd been eyeing forever. ...more
This book was such a random discovery -- ran into a copy at the Unitarian used book sale (wow. I just realized how appropriate that is), and picked itThis book was such a random discovery -- ran into a copy at the Unitarian used book sale (wow. I just realized how appropriate that is), and picked it up because it hit a trifecta of my history interests -- science, the American Revolution, and heresy. I did not expect the book to frequently take an ecological approach to biography, which of course makes sense given the nature of some of Priestley's discoveries -- and I loved it.
I took pages of notes as I was reading -- on Priestly and Franklin, the Enlightenment, the nature of progress, ecology, chemistry, the founding of Unitarianism. So much of the material in this book was right up my alley, but still somehow information I hadn't run into before -- or at least not fully synthesized. My favorite bit was definitely the section on the Carboniferous, which I don't think I'd ever heard put together fully that way before. It blew my mind.
Favorite quote: "Necessity may be the mother of invention, but most of the great inventors were blessed with something else: leisure time."...more
Another book I checked out for the readathon but ended up reading before it started. The cover was so charming, and the Dalai Lama and Tibet are topicAnother book I checked out for the readathon but ended up reading before it started. The cover was so charming, and the Dalai Lama and Tibet are topics I've long felt that I should know more about, to it was hard to resist.
It is, by its nature, a brief introduction to the subject -- focusing on the period between when the two-year-old Tenzin Gyatso was identified as a possible reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and his eventual exile from Tibet. It is a book that will absolutely leave you with more questions than you started with -- about the religious practices of Tibetan buddhists, about the forces acting on the Chinese as they invaded Tibet, etc. But for me, having new questions is the mark of an engaging book. (At least in non-fiction.)
An easy (if sad and frustrating) read that is a good introduction to the topic. ...more
I ran into this at the library and thought it would be perfect for the readathon, and it really was. Andre's life story seemed well fitted for the graI ran into this at the library and thought it would be perfect for the readathon, and it really was. Andre's life story seemed well fitted for the graphic novel format, since so much of his life was oversized. I found the professional wrestling stuff interesting, appreciated the insights into his health problems and the way he was treated by strangers, but my favorite part was the brief section on the filming of The Princess Bride. His co-stars and the director each recall an anecdote about Andre. It makes me think I should probably get around to reading Cary Elwes's book after all. ...more
Being born and raised in Kansas, it is perhaps no surprise that I've always thought the struggle for Kansas's status as a free or slave state was a siBeing born and raised in Kansas, it is perhaps no surprise that I've always thought the struggle for Kansas's status as a free or slave state was a significant part of what brought about the Civil War. But in an era when Confederate flag enthusiasts are suddenly insisting that the Civil War wasn't fought over slavery, it was high time I finally read this book my father had lent me about Brown, and the events sparking the Civil War.
(Spoiler alert: My dad isn't getting this book back.)
I loved this book. And it quickly became a refuge for me in a year of partisan election year bickering and mass shootings and too frequent news of black people being shot by the police. It was odd to me how intensely fond I became of Brown, even though I've never been a fan of Calvinism, and what religious feelings I do have urge me towards pacifism. Reynolds makes a strong case here for Brown as the first non-racist white American. To oppose slavery not just because it is happening to some poor creature, but because it was happening to your brother -- is it any wonder he ended up taking up arms?
While racism against black people is certainly the cause we most associate with Brown, his radicalism went much further. In planning for the possibility that his assault on southern slave-holding states could lead to the dissolution of the government, Brown and a council of his carefully gathered community wrote a new constitution that established the full equality of all people -- blacks, Indians, women.
I also appreciated this style of "cultural biography," which examined the cultures that shaped Brown, and then how he transcended and transformed those cultures. Like any excellent book, I am left wanting to know much more -- about the Transcendentalists, about Whitman, about Lincoln, etc., etc. ...more
When asked to name women in science, Rosalind Franklin is always high on my list. Yet before reading this book, I knew only the barest facts about herWhen asked to name women in science, Rosalind Franklin is always high on my list. Yet before reading this book, I knew only the barest facts about her: that she was gifted at x-ray crystallography, that Watson & Crick's DNA model would have been impossible (or really, terribly inaccurate) without her, and that her results were used by them in a questionable and poorly acknowledged manner. That's it. It was high time I read this book.
Thoroughly researched, this seems as an authoritative account of Franklin's life as one is likely to get. It starts slow, with an extensive exploration of Franklin's family -- parents, grandparents, uncles, their status, etc. I am sure it was helpful in establishing a complete portrait of Rosalind, but it was a bit of a chore to slog through.
But once Rosalind was on the scene, it was hard not to adore (and later sympathize with) her. She was smart, opinionated, and driven -- qualities the world of science (as well as the world in general) was badly prepared to appreciate in a woman. Still, she forged a way for herself, and authored an amazing number of peer-reviewed publications on some of the most pressing scientific problems of the day.
Surprisingly, at the end of the book I was less irritated on Franklin's behalf, and more just irritated (in a tired way) with Watson's immature self-aggrandizement, and disillusioned with the whole Nobel process. The primary difference between this book and The Double Helix is that Watson's little book is still clinging to a narrative in which great scientific breakthroughs are made by one or two people thinking in a room, whereas this book makes a solid case that modern science is group work.
I saw this book at the bookstore and was intrigued, but something about it made me hesitate, and I decided to check it out from the library instead. WI saw this book at the bookstore and was intrigued, but something about it made me hesitate, and I decided to check it out from the library instead. While I did enjoy this book, I think I'm pretty happy with this decision.
Mary Sherman Morgan's story was fascinating. Born to poor, abusive parents on an isolated farm in North Dakota, who had to be compelled by the state to send her to school. After graduation, she runs away from home to attend college to study chemistry. After a few years, she is recruited/pressured to drop out to "join the war effort," where she stars making TNT in a factory staffed almost entirely with women. After the war, of course, munitions jobs dry up and the ladies are pressured to retire and make way for the men returning home to look for jobs. Mary applies for and gets a job at North American Aviation anyway, where she builds such a reputation for herself that when the U.S. Army sends a colonel asking for NAA's best man to solve a propellant problem that Dr. van Braun can't crack, it's Mary who gets the job. And it's Mary who eventually solves it, playing a crucial part in the first launch of an American satellite into orbit (and getting the American space program back on track.)
This book is both fascinating and frustrating. Mary was an intensely private person, averse to photographs, who didn't leave much evidence of her life behind, not even min the form of stories shared with her son, who authored this book. George shares his search for any sort of documentation of his mother's career, which turns out to be mostly non-existent. (The documentation, not the career.) Much of her story is pieced together by interviews with Mary's co-workers, who don't want her legacy forgotten after her passing.
The book also seems torn between aspirations of what it wants to be. After I read a few favorite ringing passages to my husband, he said, "That's very theatrical." And I laughed. Of course it was, I just hadn't put the word to it yet. George Morgan is a playwright, and this book grew from a play he wrote about his mother. And as much as George tries to establish his mother's place in the space race, it's also intensely personal, in places more a memoir of his search for information. But as a memoir, it also leaves questions strangely unanswered, like why his father can't or won't fill in more details of his mother's personal story.
Despite any of these shortcomings, this is still a compelling story, and one that needs to be shared. ...more
There weren't very many surprises in this book for someone who considers themselves an environmentalist and follows environmental news. But the surpriThere weren't very many surprises in this book for someone who considers themselves an environmentalist and follows environmental news. But the surprises that were there were whoppers. For instance, did you know that within a matter of decades, if current trends hold true, China will need to import more grain than is currently exported worldwide on an annual basis? Scary stuff. But there were some major disappointments in this book as well, particularly some perceived inconsistencies in his "hopes for the future." ...more
Earlier this year, Andrew was heading to pick up Jefferson in Chicago, and wanted a book to entertain him in the car on the way home. I handed him a cEarlier this year, Andrew was heading to pick up Jefferson in Chicago, and wanted a book to entertain him in the car on the way home. I handed him a children's biography of Helen Heller that I had loved as a child. Evidently Jefferson loved it, too. So for our Christmas road-trip I was sure to include a biography of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, also from my childhood, in my bag of tricks. These things, combined with coming across references to Helen Keller as a progressive icon in her adult life, made me grab this memoir for my stack of prospective New Year's Eve reads.
As it turns out, Keller wrote this autobiography at the age of 22, so it didn't get me any closer to understanding her activism in later life. But this slim book is still remarkable for the joy in life that leaks through the print, and then conversely her intensely introspective self-criticism for limitations that I feel NEARLY EVER OTHER HUMAN BEING HAD AT HER AGE.
I am happy to have read it and will be glad to share it with Jefferson, but I think I'll wait a few years, so the descriptions of her prep school and college studies will be more relatable. ...more
I'd checked this out before and not gotten to it, so I was determined to read it for this readathon. Once I started, it seemed especially appropriate I'd checked this out before and not gotten to it, so I was determined to read it for this readathon. Once I started, it seemed especially appropriate to be reading while I was in the midst of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, because of course there are dozens of interconnections.
I've read a lot about Marie Curie, but never an actual biography, so it was gratifying to learn more about her life. I loved the graphic format of this book -- with all its inclusions of drawings, illustrations, and photographs. It does shift back and forth a bit in time, which is sometimes a bit disorienting. This isn't just a story about the Curies, but also about the radiation they discovered. And Redness's opinion of radiation seems to fall a bit more on the negative side than mine, but okay.
A remarkable book, and I'm glad to have read it. ...more
Years ago, I bought a copy of this book for my insect-obsessed sister, then promptly forgot all about it. Then, recently, I heard about Maria Sibylla Years ago, I bought a copy of this book for my insect-obsessed sister, then promptly forgot all about it. Then, recently, I heard about Maria Sibylla Merian again and decided i needed to know more about her. I ended up rediscovering this book and putting it on my library hold list. It's actually part of what inspired my new Women in Science phase -- after that I looked up several other biographies of female scientists and added them to my to-read list as well.
Merian's topic was metamorphosis, at a time when spontaneous generation was just starting to be disproven. In fact, Merian's work contributed to the refutations in a significant way. She was interested in metamorphosis in general, but in caterpillars in particular. Her medium was watercolor. (At a time when she was actually barred from painting in oils by artists guilds because she was a woman.) She raised hundreds of caterpillars, hoping to watch and document their transformations. Friends brought and sent her caterpillars. She sought permission to explore nearby gardens in the hopes of finding new caterpillars. She kept careful notes of dates, observations, sketches. And then she published. Books of watercolors with caterpillar/pupa/moth or butterfly on the same page. Perhaps more importantly, on their host plant. At first, she represents this work lightly -- telling stories designed to amuse of she and her friends in their fine dresses on country strolls, scrambling after insects. Suggesting her watercolors be used as inspirational patterns for embroidery. But she must have taken her work more seriously as time went on, because at the turn of the 18th century, she and her daughter sailed to Surinam to document metamorphosis there, quite possibly the first cross-Atlantic expedition for purely scientific reasons.
I could go on and on and on, but I'm going to try to rein it in. Things I want to particularly note: Merian was a contemporary of Leeuwenhoek! I think right now I am in love with turn of the 18th century Amsterdam. The hobbyist scientists. The salons full of new ideas. The crazy collections of artifacts and the birth of museums. Also, a chapter in the end about her enduring influence discusses how her work was held to some higher standard: she was dismissed entirely for decades because she was wrong about a few things, despite the significance of her gaffes being largely in line with those of her contemporaries. (Always my favorite example: Leeuwenhoek was sure that the entire germ for a new being came from the sperm. The egg was just a house to be filled.)
Also, I need to acknowledge that the author admits a dearth of primary sources about Merian's inner world. Very well recorded is what she saw, what she painted. But very little record remains of what she felt. About anything, ever. Todd is pretty transparent about this, and I thought she did an admirable job of both filling in the blanks and also directly stating what she is basing these speculations on as she makes them.
Recommended to those interested in insects, women in science and/or art, ecology, or turn of the 18th century worldviews. ...more
I picked up this book at the bookstore and was instantly smitten with it. However, at the time I was feeling guilty about how much money I'd been spenI picked up this book at the bookstore and was instantly smitten with it. However, at the time I was feeling guilty about how much money I'd been spending on books, so I put it back down and checked this out at the library instead.
I may have to buy it anyway.
Let me write you a love song to this book. Everything about it was enchanting. Of course, I already knew that I was interested in the topic -- having read a few books by Jane Goodall and seen a biopic on Dian Fossey. I had also recently read about Louis Leakey (in A Brain for All Seasons), though I hadn't put it together that it was the same Leakey who recruited women and sent them off into the jungle to observe primates until reading this. So it was no surprise to find myself in love from the very first page. The illustration style was endearing. The details chosen and the way each person was introduced and conveyed showed just how different the three women are/were, despite all that they had in common. And while I'm certainly not an expert on the subject, it seemed that Leakey's "woman problem" was handled pretty evenly and matter-of-factly -- his affairs with students/mentees (he was a married man), sometimes unwanted sexual attention, while simultaneously putting women on a pedestal as naturally superior researchers.
These three women (and Leakey, of course), changed what it means to be human. They altered our relationship to the rest of the animal kingdom forever. This is a fantastic introduction to their work, but could definitely only be considered an introduction. It has definitely made me want to learn more about both Leakey and Galdikas.
Always more books to read! (Helpfully, there is a lovely bibliography at the back.)...more
So there's this story, that my microbiology professor once told about Leeuwenhoek. He was the first real master of microscopy. Others had invented theSo there's this story, that my microbiology professor once told about Leeuwenhoek. He was the first real master of microscopy. Others had invented the microscope, others had used them to examine biological specimens, but then Leeuwenhoek came along and made better microscopes, made better observations, more observations, by orders of magnitude. Far surpassed any other work in the area before him and for decades after him. One of the discoveries he is most famous for is describing the "animalcules" living in the plaque on people's teeth.
The story that my professor told is that Leeuwenhoek was horrified to see what was living on his teeth, and after noticing that there were fewer living beasts after he drank coffee or tea, he took to drinking it hotter and hotter, until eventually the scalding liquid weakened his gums and he lost all his teeth.
It's a great story. And as we were working to land a grant for an exhibit about teeth and the mouth at Impression 5, I found myself telling the story at work. Until, as I was telling the story to two of the managers, it suddenly struck me that this story was possibly way too good to be actually true. So I started a quest to verify it. There was depressingly little on the internet, so I looked for books, and those were impossible as well! The only thing I could find an actual copy of was this, part of a series of scientist biographies that seem to be written for elementary school libraries. And no, I'm not judging. I couldn't put it down. Literally. I read most of this book on the walk to work despite the spectacle of walking around with a book clearly written for grade schoolers. And I don't care, because this book was awesome. For weeks I was insufferable, telling absolutely everyone the story of Leeuwenhoek and his microscopes. So much so that I spent some serious time considering looking harder for a "grown-up" biography, and if I couldn't find one WRITING MY OWN. Yeah. Anyone want to float me a contract on spec?
(And no, the "old toothless" story was not in this book. But this is a book for kids -- so I still consider the story neither confirmed nor denied.)...more
Owning this book was sort of an accident. I had put a book called My Dearest Friend on my wishlist -- it was supposed to be largely just the collectedOwning this book was sort of an accident. I had put a book called My Dearest Friend on my wishlist -- it was supposed to be largely just the collected letters between Abigail and John Adams. Andrew had made a list of the books on my wishlist and headed to a local bookstore and picked this up instead, thinking he'd gotten the book on my list. Oh, well. It was still very sweet!
This is more a straight-up biography, of course largely based on those letters, among other things, and sometimes containing excerpts from those letters. It seemed promising, with a lovely quote on the front from The Boston Globe of all places, saying it was "as lively, sensible, and forthright as the woman about whom it is written..." Personally, I would drop the word "lively" from the description. At times this book was so dry that the only thing that kept me reading was how excessively interested in Abigail Adams I have been from the beginning.
I acknowledge that I may have made the author's task more difficult by an over-familiarity with the subject. The basic details of her life I already know -- from 1776 and the John Adams mini-series, among other places. Every once in a while, Dearest Friend would sputter into life, and I would sit up, feeling like I was getting a truer glimpse into the details of Abigail's life -- a feeling for what it really must have been like to live that life. Then it would fade back into what seemed like a dry recitation of "and then this happened, and then this...."
I am probably being overly harsh on this poor book. Maybe the quote on the cover jaded me. Maybe I just wanted too deeply to be swept away with love for Abigail. Certainly I read the entire book with interest. But still, I want the book that was originally on my list. ...more
Loading...
