The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)

by Olivia Waite

“Science merely exists. She can’t raise a hand to anyone. It’s people who do all the wounding.”

Reviewing the proofs of one’s own book to check for typographical and mathematical errors turned out to be the most excruciating process Lucy could have imagined. Had she really written all these hundreds of thousands of words? It seemed impossible—surely some other hand had penned this striking phrase on page forty-seven. Some prankster had definitely written the hideous third paragraph on page one hundred sixty-two. And checking every variable and constant in every equation made her feel as if her poor eyes might never uncross again.

A discovery isn’t something you make alone, not really—it always has to be confirmed by someone else, whether you’re doing an experiment or making an observation or building a new theory about how the universe works. Truth doesn’t belong to any one scholar: it requires all of us.”

Maybe an artist is simply one who does an artist’s work, over and over. A process, not a paragon.”