Rise of the Rocket Girls

Holt's book shines portraying the mathematical and engineering process behind JPL's many iconic spaceflight missions--including America's first satellite, Explorer 1, and the Voyager probes that explored the solar system--as well as the women's personal lives and the evolution of their unusual roles inside the male-dominated workplace. --Space.com A New York Times bestseller A Los Angeles Times bestseller An Amazon Best Book of 2016 An Entertainment Weekly 10 Books You Have to Read in April An Elle 8 Books by Women for Bill Gates to Read This Summer Goodreads Choice Awards finalist Illuminating...these women are vividly depicted at work, at play, in and out of love, raising children--and making history. What a team--and what a story! --Gene Seymour, USA Today (3.5 stars/4) Rocket science has long been associated with men...but in Rise of the Rocket Girls, Nathalia Holt shines a light on the women behind the scenes. --Eliza Thompson, Cosmopolitan, 6 New Books to Read This Month Holt deserves credit for bringing this story to light....she is able to offer a backstage view of the bumpy start of the Space Age. --Julia M. Klein, Boston Globe Non-fiction tends to be a good reading slump buster for me, and this one seems perfect. --Andi Miller, Book Riot Nathalia Holt has written a gorgeously exciting book about an overlooked group of American women who deserve to have their story known. Inspiring and elegantly-told, this fresh slice of history was impossible to put down. --Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance These women helped change the course of American history. Nathalia Holt tells their remarkable story with heart and verve. --Martha Ackmann, author of The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight Rise of the Rocket Girls reveals the fascinating untold story of the heroic women who made America's space program possible. We owe much to these brilliant female pioneers in science-and to Nathalia Holt for reminding us of their extraordinary contributions. --Cate Lineberry, author of The Secret Rescue: An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines Incredible....Holt unveils this forgotten history with nuance and insight. --Laurel Raymond, Think Progress Heartfelt.... An accessible and human-centered history.... Holt cheerfully describes the women of JPL (and JPL itself), their triumphs, and the inevitable questions about when they would marry and quit working to raise families. --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Holt does a fine job balancing the personal stories of these women with the technical discussions of their work ....Rise of the Rocket Girls tells a fascinating story of the women who made largely unseen yet essential contributions to the early history of spaceflight. --Jeff Foust, The Space Review Engaging.... A fresh contribution to women's history.... Besides chronicling the development of America's space program, Holt recounts the women's private lives-marriages, babies, and the challenge of combining motherhood and work-gleaned from her interviewees' vivid memories. --Kirkus The JPL's earliest days were fueled by math whizzes who happened to be women.... Holt was clearly smitten while interviewing surviving members of the elite group, and conveys that affection while honoring their story. --Discover A must read for any women in tech or interested in technology! --Girls Who Code NASA's 'Rocket Girls' are no longer forgotten history. Thanks to a new book, these female pioneers who helped the U.S. win the space race are finally getting their due... Holt documents the lives of these women, who were not only pioneers in their profession, but also in their personal lives. --Naomi Shavin, Smithsonian Women were obviously just as vital to innovation and progress. Rise of the Rocket Girls proves that by reexamining the space age-specifically, the group of women who redesigned rocket science in the '40s and '50s and made that 'one small step for man' possible in the first place. --Isabella Biedenharn, Christian Holub, Dana Getz, Entertainment Weekly An intriguing account of the young, female 'human computers' who worked at Caltech's JPL. Be inspired by their work on America's first satellite and other groundbreaking projects, against the social backdrop of the Space Age, slowly changing gender norms, and the dawn of computers. --Estelle Tang, Elle, 5 Books That You Can Read With Your Mom Holt investigates the fascinating lives and important contributions of these women, who defied the sexist stereotypes of their times to play pivotal roles in sending the first rockets beyond Earth. --Scientific American Immersive, evocative.... Superbly readable.... Holt's poignant narrative should be required reading. --Maya Gittelman, Bookreporter A marvelous book.... When Neil Armstrong made his 'giant leap for mankind, ' there was womankind in the control room. --Maria Popova, Brain Pickings The women's stories are fun, intense, and endearing, and they give a new perspective on the rise of the space age. --Popular Science We hope the renewed history of the rocket girls continues to inspire more girls and women to pursue STEM fields so the gender gap is sealed once and for all. --Makers Holt seamlessly blends the technical aspects of rocket science and mathematics with an engaging narrative, making for an imminently readable and well-researched work. --Crystal Goldman, Library Journal (Starred Review, Editors' Choice Pick) Holt gives voice to the seldom-recognized female mathematicians and scientists who shaped NASA in its earliest years and beyond. --ALA Magazine This highly readable, entertaining and informative book tells the story of JPL's 'computers, ' the young women who did the calculations now handled by bits of silicon. Holt brings her characters to life, tracing them from their hiring as JPL began its career with the Army developing missiles for the Cold War through its conversion to NASA's lead center for planetary exploration. She celebrates their lives, achievements, and service to the nation, as well as their excitement at having front row seats to the earliest voyages of solar system exploration. It's a story whose telling is long overdue. We can be grateful for this enjoyable read. --Dr. Charles Elachi, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Vice President of the California Institute of Technology, and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Planetary Science An inspiring, beautiful book. Nathalia Holt has a gift for capturing the joys and fears of scientists working at the edge of possibility. By profiling the women who learned to keep American rockets flying true, she paints the dawn of the space age with new and vivid colors. --Jason Fagone, author of Ingenious: A True Story of Invention, Automotive Daring, and the Race to Revive America I stole sleep to finish this book and was happy to do so. I admire how Holt gives voice to a group of important (and lesser-known) female scientists who have in the past been overshadowed by their male counterparts. The domestic and the scientific are elegantly rendered--it is an impressive contribution to American history and I was sad to turn the last page. --TaraShea Nesbit, bestselling author of The Wives of Los Alamos Inspiring and thought-provoking, this book will change the way you look at the history of space travel--as well as its future. --Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl, 25 New Mighty Girl Books for Early Spring Holt argues that these women's calculations played an under-appreciated part in NASA's towering achievements.... Here, math is dramatic, not mundane. Calculating is a physical, even athletic, act.... Holt depicts the human computers' life stories vividly. --Jennifer Light, Nature A New York Times bestseller An Amazon Best Book of 2016 An Entertainment Weekly 10 Books You Have to Read in April An Elle 8 Books by Women for Bill Gates to Read This Summer Holt's accessible and heartfelt narrative celebrates the women whose crucial roles in American space science often go unrecognized. Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Nathalia Holt's Rise of the Rocket Girls is an immersive, evocative narrative that effectively brings an all-too-forgotten history to life.... Deeply researched... skillfully written... superbly readable.... Holt's poignant narrative should be required reading for anyone who studies aeronautics, history or women's rights. Maya Gittelman, Bookreporter Marvelous....Thoroughly wonderful....Nathalia Holt reclaims the role of these unheralded women scientists in the field that has enchanted humanity's collective imagination more powerfully than any other: space exploration....Their untold story illuminates the broader cultural context of changes that are still ripening today. Maria Popova, Brain Pickings These female pioneers who helped the U.S. win the space race are finally getting their due....The book acts as a fascinating time capsule, capturing what it was like to be a working woman at a time when only 20 percent of women worked outside the home, or when a woman could be fired simply for being pregnant. Naomi Shavin, Smithosonian Here, math is dramatic, not mundane. Calculating is a physical, even athletic, act....Personal anecdotes...will fascinate general readers and provide valuable primary source materials for future academics. Jennifer Light, Nature Most of our time in history class is spent learning about men, but women were obviously just as vital to innovation and progress. Rise of the Rocket Girls proves that by reexamining the space age--specifically, the group of women who redesigned rocket science...and made that 'one small step for man' possible in the first place. Isabella Biedenharn, Christian Holub, Dana Getz, Entertainment Weekly Illuminating...these women are vividly depicted at work, at play, in and out of love, raising children--and making history. What a team--and what a story! Gene Seymour, USA Today (3.5 stars/4) Engaging history....a fresh contribution to women's history. Kirkus Wow! Talk about forgotten history! Those interested in space history will find much to enjoy here, but it is the stories of the women involved, highlighted in sections by decade, that commands attention....and her stellar research is evident on every page. This is an excellent contribution to American history, valuable not only for what it reveals about the space program and gender equality but even more as great reading. Book clubs will be lining up. Colleen Mondor, Booklist (Starred Review) A New York Times bestseller An Amazon Best Book of April 2016 An Entertainment Weekly 10 Books You Have to Read in April An Elle 8 Books by Women for Bill Gates to Read This Summer Holt's accessible and heartfelt narrative celebrates the women whose crucial roles in American space science often go unrecognized. Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Nathalia Holt's Rise of the Rocket Girls is an immersive, evocative narrative that effectively brings an all-too-forgotten history to life.... Deeply researched... skillfully written... superbly readable.... Holt's poignant narrative should be required reading for anyone who studies aeronautics, history or women's rights. Maya Gittelman, Bookreporter Rise of the Rocket Girls reveals the fascinating untold story of the heroic women who made America's space program possible. We owe much to these brilliant female pioneers in science-and to Nathalia Holt for reminding us of their extraordinary contributions. Cate Lineberry, author of The Secret Rescue: An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines