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When the movie Hidden Figures came out I loved it, and then I read the book Hidden Figures and loved it too, so when I saw this memoir by one of the women featured in those works, I was like: yes PLEASE!
So! This is a memoir by a female black mathematician who worked for NASA in the days of the space race! But it's about much more than that, of course, because her life was about much more than that. (Though of course that was an important part of her life!)
And it was a fascinating look at what it was like to exist while Black in Virginia and West Virginia over the course of the 20th century, through her experiences. This was most likely the biggest through-line in the book, and with good reason.
The other biggest through-line I could see in the book was her deep interest in making sure she talked by name about all of the wonderful people who were a part of her life over the years, in many ways. She wants us to know how great each of them was!
Johnson's life clearly had a lot of tough stuff in it, but she is not the sort to wallow. She talks about the hard things very matter-of-factly, and does not dwell on them. The overall impression I got was of a woman with a very appropriate amount of self-confidence, and a lovely-to-see sense that she had a good life that was worth living.
It's not exactly a groundbreaking book, but she was a groundbreaking person, and a really impressive one, and I enjoyed spending a few hours immersed in her life story.
So! This is a memoir by a female black mathematician who worked for NASA in the days of the space race! But it's about much more than that, of course, because her life was about much more than that. (Though of course that was an important part of her life!)
And it was a fascinating look at what it was like to exist while Black in Virginia and West Virginia over the course of the 20th century, through her experiences. This was most likely the biggest through-line in the book, and with good reason.
The other biggest through-line I could see in the book was her deep interest in making sure she talked by name about all of the wonderful people who were a part of her life over the years, in many ways. She wants us to know how great each of them was!
Johnson's life clearly had a lot of tough stuff in it, but she is not the sort to wallow. She talks about the hard things very matter-of-factly, and does not dwell on them. The overall impression I got was of a woman with a very appropriate amount of self-confidence, and a lovely-to-see sense that she had a good life that was worth living.
It's not exactly a groundbreaking book, but she was a groundbreaking person, and a really impressive one, and I enjoyed spending a few hours immersed in her life story.
