Scan barcode
tachyondecay's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
In The Only Woman in the Room, Eileen Pollack shares her story of eagerly matriculating into physics at Yale, completing her degree, and then dropping out of science in favour of an eventual career as a writer and professor of English—ironically, what her parents initially advised her to do. Pollack connects challenges she faced, primarily during her time at Yale, to the larger systemic issue of the leaky pipeline in science and why more women don’t go on to get PhDs and remain in the field.
It took me a while to get into this book. Pollack’s writing style doesn’t work great for me. She kept mentioning incidents in an offhanded way when I was curious and wanted to know more about some of them. The overall chronological structure ends up monotonous as she relates one event after the next. There’s plenty of information, but it just wasn’t interesting to me.
Eventually, after Pollack starts her studies at Yale and then later when she is wrestling with her potential future as a physicist, the book is a little better. Still, the most interesting chapters are the ones at the end. Pollack revisits Yale and her hometown, interviewing new faculty and old teachers to get a better sense of how women and girls were and are treated in the study of science. These chapters shine. Maybe it’s because Pollack is recalling recent conversations using copious notes versus wracking her brain for recollections decades old. Whatever the case, Pollack connects with her subjects in this chapter in a way that her personal narrative doesn’t connect with me in the earlier chapters.
It’s a shame, for Pollack brings a unique and valuable perspective to this important issue. I can relate to her academic and career trajectory in the sense that I studied math in university, was very good at it, but ultimately decided not to pursue it professionally. Now, I had always started with the intention to be a teacher. And it’s important to note that I still thought I was a man back in university, so I received all the encouragement that Pollack notes most talented men receive and don’t even notice: I remember vividly a conversation I once had at a conference. I had been doing summer research, and my supervisor’s supervisor tried to talk me into going into grad school (and ultimately a PhD program) based on that little bit of work I had done. But I knew research wasn’t for me, and I am very happy with that decision, as Pollack seems with hers. Yet there is always a part of me that wonders….
So as Pollack discusses her reasons for leaving science, that hit me. I agree with a lot of what she says in this book about the need to give students (of any gender) opportunities to do research, the need to encourage female students more openly and explicitly to counter the anxieties they learn growing up, and the need to consider gender bias in the design of programs of study.
The Only Woman in the Room has a lot of promise, and there’s a great deal of good info here. Pollack brings an important perspective. However, I’m not sure how much of this book will stay with me as I get further from it.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
It took me a while to get into this book. Pollack’s writing style doesn’t work great for me. She kept mentioning incidents in an offhanded way when I was curious and wanted to know more about some of them. The overall chronological structure ends up monotonous as she relates one event after the next. There’s plenty of information, but it just wasn’t interesting to me.
Eventually, after Pollack starts her studies at Yale and then later when she is wrestling with her potential future as a physicist, the book is a little better. Still, the most interesting chapters are the ones at the end. Pollack revisits Yale and her hometown, interviewing new faculty and old teachers to get a better sense of how women and girls were and are treated in the study of science. These chapters shine. Maybe it’s because Pollack is recalling recent conversations using copious notes versus wracking her brain for recollections decades old. Whatever the case, Pollack connects with her subjects in this chapter in a way that her personal narrative doesn’t connect with me in the earlier chapters.
It’s a shame, for Pollack brings a unique and valuable perspective to this important issue. I can relate to her academic and career trajectory in the sense that I studied math in university, was very good at it, but ultimately decided not to pursue it professionally. Now, I had always started with the intention to be a teacher. And it’s important to note that I still thought I was a man back in university, so I received all the encouragement that Pollack notes most talented men receive and don’t even notice: I remember vividly a conversation I once had at a conference. I had been doing summer research, and my supervisor’s supervisor tried to talk me into going into grad school (and ultimately a PhD program) based on that little bit of work I had done. But I knew research wasn’t for me, and I am very happy with that decision, as Pollack seems with hers. Yet there is always a part of me that wonders….
So as Pollack discusses her reasons for leaving science, that hit me. I agree with a lot of what she says in this book about the need to give students (of any gender) opportunities to do research, the need to encourage female students more openly and explicitly to counter the anxieties they learn growing up, and the need to consider gender bias in the design of programs of study.
The Only Woman in the Room has a lot of promise, and there’s a great deal of good info here. Pollack brings an important perspective. However, I’m not sure how much of this book will stay with me as I get further from it.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
gfmatt's review against another edition
4.0
More of a memoir than the title suggests. Her answer to the title is systemic cultural bias. Not very encouraging.
kevin_shepherd's review against another edition
4.0
If this had been subtitled “My Trek Through the Misogynistic and Chauvinistic World of Scientific Scholarship” or even “Why I Abandoned My Dream of Becoming a Physicist” I would have been better prepared.
Instead, I came to enjoy Eileen Pollack’s apparent ‘autobiography’ only after my expectations were altered and after my initial disappointment was quelled. At first glance, this was not the scientific study I thought it was going to be. This was an accounting of one woman’s struggle to make a space for herself in a male dominated profession. Pollack’s story, though wonderfully written, was wholly personal and primarily anecdotal. In fact, in some instances she actually perpetuated the myth of ‘Why Women Stink at Science’ rather than refuting it.
And then came chapter eleven. Wait For It…
It is not until after the author details her personal odyssey through the hallowed halls of Ivy League Academia that all of her interviews and statistics shine through. Pollack’s assertion that women are setup to fail is hard to refute. The gauntlet of scrutiny and evaluation required for any advanced degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is excruciatingly testicular.
Update: Since Pollack published this book in 2015, I was curious to see if science, as an industry, had evolved in the few years since. It has, but not much. In a study published in 2020, women comprised less than 30% of the STEM workforce while comprising 52% of the college-educated workforce overall. More tellingly, the number of women in board positions in STEM-related industries was 19.2%, and women made up only 3% of STEM CEO’s. Translation: As a society, we still have a helluva long way to go.
SEE ALSO: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3908887437
_________________________________________
NOTE: At the end of 2019, The scientific journal Nature made a commitment to address the “entrenched gender inequity” at scientific conferences. They looked closely at conference diversity and what they saw was simply unsatisfactory. Consequently, they introduced a new code of conduct. Now two years later, their decisions have yielded some significant results - the most noteworthy improvement being that women in 2021 now comprise 48% of the keynote conference speakers (compared to 29% in 2016).
www.nature.com
14 December 2021
Instead, I came to enjoy Eileen Pollack’s apparent ‘autobiography’ only after my expectations were altered and after my initial disappointment was quelled. At first glance, this was not the scientific study I thought it was going to be. This was an accounting of one woman’s struggle to make a space for herself in a male dominated profession. Pollack’s story, though wonderfully written, was wholly personal and primarily anecdotal. In fact, in some instances she actually perpetuated the myth of ‘Why Women Stink at Science’ rather than refuting it.
And then came chapter eleven. Wait For It…
It is not until after the author details her personal odyssey through the hallowed halls of Ivy League Academia that all of her interviews and statistics shine through. Pollack’s assertion that women are setup to fail is hard to refute. The gauntlet of scrutiny and evaluation required for any advanced degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is excruciatingly testicular.
Update: Since Pollack published this book in 2015, I was curious to see if science, as an industry, had evolved in the few years since. It has, but not much. In a study published in 2020, women comprised less than 30% of the STEM workforce while comprising 52% of the college-educated workforce overall. More tellingly, the number of women in board positions in STEM-related industries was 19.2%, and women made up only 3% of STEM CEO’s. Translation: As a society, we still have a helluva long way to go.
SEE ALSO: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3908887437
_________________________________________
NOTE: At the end of 2019, The scientific journal Nature made a commitment to address the “entrenched gender inequity” at scientific conferences. They looked closely at conference diversity and what they saw was simply unsatisfactory. Consequently, they introduced a new code of conduct. Now two years later, their decisions have yielded some significant results - the most noteworthy improvement being that women in 2021 now comprise 48% of the keynote conference speakers (compared to 29% in 2016).
www.nature.com
14 December 2021
m4ple's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
100pagesaday's review against another edition
4.0
Eileen Pollack was one of the first women to graduate with a degree in physics from Yale. However, her path was not an easy one because of her gender. Eileen looks back at her education and and academic career to try and figure out the plight of women in science in her semi-autobiographical The Only Women in the Room. Though there are many more women in the sciences now, women are still vastly outnumbered by men especially in sciences such as physics, math and technology.
Eileen examines her childhood and college career in order to use her experience as an example of the problems and internal struggles women in sciences have faced and still may have issues with. In the latter half, Eileen interviews women in sciences currently and sights recent studies about women in sciences to base her conclusions on. As Eileen recounted her struggles throughout her elementary and high school studies, I was amazed at how many times she was held back and her interests and intelligence were discounted. Despite all of that, Eileen was determined to get a degree in physics. She was accepted into Yale and succeeded, but not without many struggles. One of the things that Eileen found out was that though she thought she was doing far worse than any of the males in her classes, she was actually doing much better. Her struggles resulted from many of the males in her classes receiving more encouragement throughout their academic career resulting in the ability to appear confident and belief that they were doing well and had a grasp on the material. Another pitfall Eileen ran into was comfort level being the only or one of few females in many of her classes. Taught by male professors who may also not have been comfortable. This is one of the issues that is carried over to women today and in some cases, I have faced myself. Eileen found that women need steady, outward encouragement and nourishment in their confidence level. Overall, this was an interesting, introspective and eye-opening look at women in the sciences.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
Eileen examines her childhood and college career in order to use her experience as an example of the problems and internal struggles women in sciences have faced and still may have issues with. In the latter half, Eileen interviews women in sciences currently and sights recent studies about women in sciences to base her conclusions on. As Eileen recounted her struggles throughout her elementary and high school studies, I was amazed at how many times she was held back and her interests and intelligence were discounted. Despite all of that, Eileen was determined to get a degree in physics. She was accepted into Yale and succeeded, but not without many struggles. One of the things that Eileen found out was that though she thought she was doing far worse than any of the males in her classes, she was actually doing much better. Her struggles resulted from many of the males in her classes receiving more encouragement throughout their academic career resulting in the ability to appear confident and belief that they were doing well and had a grasp on the material. Another pitfall Eileen ran into was comfort level being the only or one of few females in many of her classes. Taught by male professors who may also not have been comfortable. This is one of the issues that is carried over to women today and in some cases, I have faced myself. Eileen found that women need steady, outward encouragement and nourishment in their confidence level. Overall, this was an interesting, introspective and eye-opening look at women in the sciences.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
deservingporcupine's review against another edition
I think I couldn't get into this book because I already know a lot about this topic. Maybe I'll pick it up again at another time.