Hidden Figures

[Iris]

For my last free read, I had to read a nonfiction book, therefore the book I chose was Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. To be honest, I chose this book only because I searched ‘nonfiction’ in google and this novel came up and did not look half bad. This book explores the theme of women’s roles during the space race, but mainly it focuses on segregation during this time period. I was not sure how much I would enjoy this book at first, however I ended up enjoying it more than I thought. I was pessimistic, because it is a nonfiction book and I assumed that I would get bored or overwhelmed with the historical facts. Generally the facts take away from the story and distract me as a reader, but this was not the case for this novel. This book could appeal to many people, for example women, African American, or anyone interested in the space race. The main characters really opened my eyes to the harsh discrimination they faced and how little credit they got for everything they did. I was a little appalled at the lack of knowledge I had or had been taught about these women before I read this book; they deserve much more credit than just a book. Although I would not recommend this book to everyone, because it does appeal to certain people like I mentioned previously, I would recommend everyone to learn more about the story of these African American mathematicians.