From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

Hidden Figures

Margot Lee Shetterly

Start date: March 1, 2019

Finish date: March 30, 2019

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: March Bonus Read- Women's History Month

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Bla…more
[close] 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

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 73 topics — 889 comments total

Monthly Bonus Reads

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (February 2023)
By Mariah Roze · 2 posts · 18 views

last updated May 17, 2023 10:35AM

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide (March 2023)
By Mariah Roze · 2 posts · 11 views

last updated Mar 06, 2023 08:42AM

showing 2 of 2 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jul 22, 2019 ☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ rated it it was amazing

A fascinating subject. An inspiring story. Peppered through with facts and fiction and more facts. Of course, some of the things must have been embellished (or not! or yes?), still, the inspiration is there!

All the 'segregation' and 'women can't do this or that job' is such damn bullshit! That seemingly sensible and not senile people managed to actually believe in it will probably never stop trumping me. I just can't wrap my mind around it.

The departmental policy's probably a bit skewed? I've no A fascinating subject. An inspiring story. Peppered through with facts and fiction and more facts. Of course, some of the things must have been embellished (or not! or yes?), still, the inspiration is there!

All the 'segregation' and 'women can't do this or that job' is such damn bullshit! That seemingly sensible and not senile people managed to actually believe in it will probably never stop trumping me. I just can't wrap my mind around it.

The departmental policy's probably a bit skewed? I've no idea how it actually was but it feels to be that way. Foe example:
Q:
Katherine and Al Hamer had already started thinking about what it would take to plot a course to Mars; their colleagues Marge Hannah and John Young would look even farther into the cosmos, dreaming up a “grand tour” of the outer planets. (c) I'm pretty sure this is just unfortunate phrasing which makes it sound like there were 2 (4?) people doing the 'thinking'. There must have been many more, we're just making these one visible, since they are the subject of the book.
Still, this is not making the book any worse, it's a really difficult task to pinpoint how large groups of people work. And anyway, the readers probably wouldn't have appreciated the thing: just how interesting can it get listening to dull day-to-day departmental meetings? I guess, not too interesting to anyone but an efficiency consultant.

I also find that 1 of the girls was, well, not too African American (she was of fair complexion and everything) isn't taking anything from the story. Just imagine being a fair African American: it would definitely be an issue, still, from all sides. This is not a fun position to be in, maths or no maths.

The heroes were independent and well-rounded and idealistic which got balanced by a plethora of researched details and non-fiction style. More's the power to the book, had it not been that way, I probably wouldn't have even believed a word from this book.

Q:
Even if the tale had begun and ended with the first five black women who went to work at Langley’s segregated west side in May 1943—the women later known as the “West Computers”—I still would have committed myself to recording the facts and circumstances of their lives. Just as islands—isolated places with unique, rich biodiversity—have relevance for the ecosystems everywhere, so does studying seemingly isolated or overlooked people and events from the past turn up unexpected connections and insights to modern life. The idea that black women had been recruited to work as mathematicians at the NASA installation in the South during the days of segregation defies our expectations and challenges much of what we think we know about American history. It’s a great story, and that alone makes it worth telling.(c) Totally great.
Q:
There was something in her bearing that transcended her soft voice and diminutive stature. Her eyes dominated her lovely, caramel-hued face—almond-shaped, wide-set, intense eyes that seemed to see everything. Education topped her list of ideals; it was the surest hedge against a world that would require more of her children than white children, and attempt to give them less in return. (c)
Q:
No one knew better than Katherine Johnson that luck favored the prepared. (c) ...more

62 likes · Like · see review

Jan 29, 2017 Christina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography, books-i-would-read-over-and-over, african-american, non-fiction, history, top-20-reads, historical, science, lauryn-s-future-reading-list, feminism

This book was amazing!

The history behind the wonderful story of all of the ladies in the West Computing Group was simply astounding. I never would have thought NASA's history was so rich and diverse, but often at times segregated. I won't comment on the writing of the story as this is a non-fiction piece of work, but the untold stories of the women of first NACA and then NASA is just tremendous. I read and re-read parts of this book over and over because it was just that good. This will be a bo ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 05, 2019 Lisa rated it it was ok

For the first time in my life, I just finished a book that wasn't half as good as the movie that was made from it. These African-American women were trailblazers in their jobs at NASA as engineers and mathematicians and they have a great story to tell the world about it. The movie was better able to focus on the women's story. The book tended to jump from one person to another giving us snippets of information about numerous people. There was a plethora of facts that weren't presented in an inte ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 05, 2017 Megan rated it really liked it

Fascinating story. What remarkable women

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 19, 2018 Zach Strassburger rated it liked it

Loved the story but the actual writing became dull about halfway through. Had to force myself to finish it.

Like · see review

Feb 18, 2017 Tami Shaver rated it really liked it

I loved all the stories of the characters and the history of segregation and integration.I got bogged down a bit in the science and technical details, but even that challenged my brain in a good way!

Like · see review