A Lab of One's Own: One Woman's Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science
- ISBN-10
- 1501181297
- ISBN-13
- 9781501181290
- Category
- Biography & Autobiography
- Pages
- 288
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2021-08-17
- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster
- Authors
- Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, Rita Colwell
Description
A “beautifully written” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) memoir-manifesto from the first female director of the National Science Foundation about the entrenched sexism in science, the elaborate detours women have take to bypass the problem, and how to fix the system. If you think sexism thrives only on Wall Street or Hollywood, you haven’t visited a lab, a science department, a research foundation, or a biotech firm. Rita Colwell is one of the top scientists in America: the groundbreaking microbiologist who discovered how cholera survives between epidemics and the former head of the National Science Foundation. But when she first applied for a graduate fellowship in bacteriology, she was told, “We don’t waste fellowships on women.” A lack of support from some male superiors would lead her to change her area of study six times before completing her PhD. A Lab of One’s Own is an “engaging” (Booklist) book that documents all Colwell has seen and heard over her six decades in science, from sexual harassment in the lab to obscure systems blocking women from leading professional organizations or publishing their work. Along the way, she encounters other women pushing back against the status quo, including a group at MIT who revolt when they discover their labs are a fraction of the size of their male colleagues. Resistance gave female scientists special gifts: forced to change specialties so many times, they came to see things in a more interdisciplinary way, which turned out to be key to making new discoveries in the 20th and 21st centuries. Colwell would also witness the advances that could be made when men and women worked together—often under her direction, such as when she headed a team that helped to uncover the source of anthrax used in the 2001 letter attacks. A Lab of One’s Own is “an inspiring read for women embarking on a career or experiencing career challenges” (Library Journal, starred review) that shares the sheer joy a scientist feels when moving toward a breakthrough, and the thrill of uncovering a whole new generation of female pioneers. It is the science book for the #MeToo era, offering an astute diagnosis of how to fix the problem of sexism in science—and a celebration of women pushing back.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2020-08-04
- 288 pages
- Ebook
- Simon and Schuster
-
- 2018-01-05
- 304 pages
- Ebook
- Oxford University Press
Similar books
-
A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit
By Alan LightmanIn these brilliant essays, the two worlds meet. In A Sense of the Mysterious, Lightman records his personal struggles to reconcile certainty with uncertainty, logic with intuition, questions with answers and questions without.
-
Women in Microbiology
By Rachel J. Whitaker, Hazel B. BartonThese stories are proof that a person can live a balanced and passionate life in science that is rich and rewarding. Women in Microbiology First Edition Many girls want to become scientists when they grow up, just like many boys do.
-
Lab Girl
By Hope JahrenWarm, luminous, compulsively readable, Lab Girl vividly demonstrates the mountains that we can move when love and work come together.
-
The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys' Club
By Eileen PollackONE OF WASHINGTON POST'S NOTABLE NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR “Beautifully written and full of important insights,” this is a bracingly honest exploration of why there are still so few women in the hard sciences, mathematics, ...
-
The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist
By Ben BarresIn this book, completed shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in December 2017, Barres (born in 1954) describes a life full of remarkable accomplishments—from his childhood as a precocious math and science whiz to his ...
-
Real Life: A Novel
By Brandon TaylorA FINALIST for the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the VCU/Cabell First Novelist Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the NYPL Young Lions Award, and the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award “A blistering ...
-
Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living
By Nick OffermanA mix of amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants, sprinkled with offbeat gaiety, Paddle Your Own Canoe will not only tickle readers pink but may also rouse them to put down their smart phones, study a few sycamore leaves, and maybe ...
-
Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet
By Claire L. Evans197 “It looks like a jar of salsa”: Jaime Levy, “CyberSlacker, Episode 8 (The Secret Sauce),” 6:05, posted to YouTube May 11, 2012, https://youtu.be/DbB0x BX9yEE 198 it went public in 1999: Indergaard, Silicon Alley, 149.
-
Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies from Successful Women Scientists
By Ellen DaniellThis book tells the story of a professional problem-solving group that for more than 25 years has empowered its members by providing practical and emotional support.
-
Urban Play: Make-Believe, Technology, and Space
By Fabio Duarte, Ricardo AlvarezIn Urban Play, Fábio Duarte and Ricardo Álvarez argue that the merely functional aspects of technology may undermine its transformative power.