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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
It’s taken me a long time to get to the point where I can write a review of this book and not a lengthy rebuttal, because this is a book that caused me to shake my head frequently. I went through school just a few years before this author, and I have to say, my experiences as a science major were nothing like hers! I could go on, but…
I think the main thing to know about this book is that despite the synopsis, this is not really a study or analysis of the role of women in science and how that may have changed. This is really a memoir about the author’s experience as a science major and her explanations for her failed expectations. Ellen grew up thinking she wanted to be a scientist, but for all the wrong reasons. Though she never seems to realize this herself, her passion is not science, but is writing. Her motivation for studying science at an ‘elite’ university seems to be that it makes her feel like she is better than the ‘common’ people. Obviously she feels that writers are second class citizens compared to scientists. Her arrogance and elitism really annoyed me, particularly when she mentioned a ‘public Midwest university’ with a tone of disdain.
Another thing that was extremely annoying to me was that she assigned her difficulty with math to the prevalence of sports-related examples in math books. She seems to imply that interest in sports is gender-based, which I assume we all know is not true — at all!
If you enjoy memoirs, you may enjoy this one, but it is important to realize that this is a story of one woman’s experiences in her quest to become a scientist, and the way she has dealt with the might-have-been and if-only. The experiences should not be generalized or assumed to reflect the experiences of all, or even most, women. If you are looking for that book you need to keep looking!
I received a review copy of this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.
I think the main thing to know about this book is that despite the synopsis, this is not really a study or analysis of the role of women in science and how that may have changed. This is really a memoir about the author’s experience as a science major and her explanations for her failed expectations. Ellen grew up thinking she wanted to be a scientist, but for all the wrong reasons. Though she never seems to realize this herself, her passion is not science, but is writing. Her motivation for studying science at an ‘elite’ university seems to be that it makes her feel like she is better than the ‘common’ people. Obviously she feels that writers are second class citizens compared to scientists. Her arrogance and elitism really annoyed me, particularly when she mentioned a ‘public Midwest university’ with a tone of disdain.
Another thing that was extremely annoying to me was that she assigned her difficulty with math to the prevalence of sports-related examples in math books. She seems to imply that interest in sports is gender-based, which I assume we all know is not true — at all!
If you enjoy memoirs, you may enjoy this one, but it is important to realize that this is a story of one woman’s experiences in her quest to become a scientist, and the way she has dealt with the might-have-been and if-only. The experiences should not be generalized or assumed to reflect the experiences of all, or even most, women. If you are looking for that book you need to keep looking!
I received a review copy of this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.
informative
inspiring
reflective
Another possible subtitle: A Memoir From Inside the Leaky Pipeline. Pollack mostly focuses on her story, starting when she was a girl who grew up with obvious gifts in math and science, continuing through her undergraduate degree in theoretical physics, and then the decision to take a different path as a writer. The stats on women in science show her experience is not unusual. I identified with a lot of her story and honestly couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to any person in science, any woman not in science who once thought she might want to be, and any parent or teacher who has any role in influencing the next generation's perception of science.
Really excellent combo memoir think piece about why girls are turned off from pursuing careers in science. Great writing. Fascinating to learn her story.
I guess it figures that people would have strong feelings about this book and write critical reviews. I thought Pollack did a pretty great job of backing up her assertion that oftentimes women need more encouragement and support to go into (and stay in) the sciences because hello, sexism. Boys are constantly groomed for the sciences while girls in the US are not. Sure it is improving, but we are certainly not on equal footing yet.
The first part of the book details her personal experiences in physics and then the second part is devoted to the numerous conversations she had with other people in and out of the field. The last part of the book focuses on research studies that apparently some reviewers on here were hoping to find more of.... But for me, that was the most boring part because I already knew most of the studies that she referenced.
While I think this is an important read for people in and out of the sciences, it was a longer read than I think it had to be. She could have condensed a lot of the information from the conversations she had with people.
The first part of the book details her personal experiences in physics and then the second part is devoted to the numerous conversations she had with other people in and out of the field. The last part of the book focuses on research studies that apparently some reviewers on here were hoping to find more of.... But for me, that was the most boring part because I already knew most of the studies that she referenced.
While I think this is an important read for people in and out of the sciences, it was a longer read than I think it had to be. She could have condensed a lot of the information from the conversations she had with people.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I cannot express how much I loved this book. More than half memoir, the author's account of her experiences is vivid, nuanced and compelling. As a high school physics teacher, I constantly concerned that I may not be serving my female students as well as they deserve. Stories such as these, that invite me into the thoughts and experiences of the women who have gone through the struggle, are invaluable as I consider how I teach, support and encourage my students.
As a former physics major, I also found a lot of resonance in the way she describes her college experience. I'm not a woman, I did not go to Yale, and I am not as talented and driven as the author, but she certainly gives voice to what must be some of the universal experiences if physics majors. I certainly remember the labs with thirty-year-old equipment that not even the professor could get to work, the unexpected failing grades that demonstrated my carefree A+ high school days were over, the class I only passed because I spent an hour a week in the professor's office getting help on the homework, teaching myself Fortran in the stacks of the physics library, struggling more than I should have because I wasn't part of a study group... It recalled so vividly everything that was good and bad about studying physics in college.
I recommend this book highly to anyone, but especially STEM teachers.
As a former physics major, I also found a lot of resonance in the way she describes her college experience. I'm not a woman, I did not go to Yale, and I am not as talented and driven as the author, but she certainly gives voice to what must be some of the universal experiences if physics majors. I certainly remember the labs with thirty-year-old equipment that not even the professor could get to work, the unexpected failing grades that demonstrated my carefree A+ high school days were over, the class I only passed because I spent an hour a week in the professor's office getting help on the homework, teaching myself Fortran in the stacks of the physics library, struggling more than I should have because I wasn't part of a study group... It recalled so vividly everything that was good and bad about studying physics in college.
I recommend this book highly to anyone, but especially STEM teachers.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
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.
More of a memoir than the title suggests. Her answer to the title is systemic cultural bias. Not very encouraging.
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
challenging
emotional
slow-paced