Lessons in Chemistry

by Bonnie Garmus

Elizabeth Zott held grudges too. Except her grudges were mainly reserved for a patriarchal society founded on the idea that women were less. Less capable. Less intelligent. Less inventive. A society that believed men went to work and did important things—discovered planets, developed products, created laws—and women stayed at home and raised children. She didn’t want children—she knew this about herself—but she also knew that plenty of other women did want children and a career. And what was wrong with that? Nothing. It was exactly what men got.

People like my father preach love but are filled with hate. Anyone who threatens their narrow beliefs cannot be tolerated. The day my mother caught my brother holding hands with another boy, that was it. After

“Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?” the other geologist suggested. “I grew up on a farm,” Eddie contributed. “Cows are a lot of work.” Frask

I’d like to return these books first. I’m thinking you might enjoy Moby-Dick. It’s a story about how humans continually underestimate other life-forms. At their peril.”

fiction was problematic. People were always insisting they knew what it meant, even if the writer hadn’t meant that at all, and even if what they thought it meant had no actual

Like most stupid people, Mr. Sloane wasn’t smart enough to know just how stupid he was.

Being an adult is overrated, don’t you think?” he said. “Just as you solve one problem, ten more pull up.”