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rebekahjenkins's review
4.0
The part I found the most interesting was about Rachel Carson. But it’s a pretty okay book! Probably more for people who love the famous people mentioned and understand science more than me.
bellasgonemissing's review
3.5
I think either this book lost its way a little bit or was just marketed wrong. while an interesting read (enough to make me read all 550 pages) i would have loved more of the author's own connections and theoretical writing which is what was presented in the introduction/blurb, those parts were very beautiful and well written, there just wasn't enough of them. it was a thoughtful and compelling biography of the key figures' lives, just lacked the actual application of its central thesis.
hellorainy's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
Figuring is a masterpiece. If you are a fan of Popova’s blog you will love her book, too. Like all her writing, it is beautiful, insightful, and at times deeply moving. Audiobook listeners will not be disappointed either. The narrator has a delightful, melodious voice and her reading is on point. Popova’s writing is nourishment for the despairing heart, mind and spirit. Her portraits of people are so nuanced, gentle, and generous even in the examination of messy interpersonal drama. If only I had been given her works to read as a young person, maybe I would have learned to appreciate poetry earlier. Bonus, lots to interest queer readers!
gemmamilne's review
4.0
This is a book that helps you think. Not by telling you what to think, or indeed even demanding it of you, but by presenting you with a rich tapestry of prose, ideas, anecdotes and asides that even those in the most resistant of moods cannot help but by swept up in the soft-focus tornado of thought.
‘Figuring’ is Popova’s version of meaning-making; of working the world out through the intersections, cross-hatching and co-production of art, science and lived experience. The book is - on the face of it - a journey through the lives, loves and works of various artists, writers and scientists throughout history (and the relationships between them), in a bid to explore themes such as love, art, truth, knowledge, the universe and everything. Some names are more famous than others, but regardless, you’re bound to learn something new about each - yet this is not a revisionist history. The book isn’t really about the content; as thorough and rich as it is, I was less interested in the roundedness of its truth or the inclusiveness of its characters, but about the weaving of it all.
Figuring is a generous book - not a flaunted gift from the author, but a tentative offering of sorts. An offering of her time, of her thought-process, of her meaning-making - not to convince or educate or wow you, but to give you space to ponder. It’s a book to read when you feel like you need or want to think, but don’t know what to think about.
I very much enjoyed getting lost in this over the last few days.
‘Figuring’ is Popova’s version of meaning-making; of working the world out through the intersections, cross-hatching and co-production of art, science and lived experience. The book is - on the face of it - a journey through the lives, loves and works of various artists, writers and scientists throughout history (and the relationships between them), in a bid to explore themes such as love, art, truth, knowledge, the universe and everything. Some names are more famous than others, but regardless, you’re bound to learn something new about each - yet this is not a revisionist history. The book isn’t really about the content; as thorough and rich as it is, I was less interested in the roundedness of its truth or the inclusiveness of its characters, but about the weaving of it all.
Figuring is a generous book - not a flaunted gift from the author, but a tentative offering of sorts. An offering of her time, of her thought-process, of her meaning-making - not to convince or educate or wow you, but to give you space to ponder. It’s a book to read when you feel like you need or want to think, but don’t know what to think about.
I very much enjoyed getting lost in this over the last few days.
ridgewaygirl's review
5.0
This book begins with an unforgettable image, that of the mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Kepler, racing through the night to rescue his mother, who was being tried for witchcraft. From there, Popova sets off on a wide-ranging look at a variety of things, from asking how it is that genius arises to examining how people negotiated lives outside of the traditional heterosexual framework in times when there wasn't even the language to speak about sexuality. At first the book seemed to be a scattershot of ideas and historical tidbits which, while interesting enough, do not make a coherent narrative. But Popova settles down into the meat of her book, a series of biographies of women, mostly living in the mid-nineteenth century, who lived extraordinary lives, far outside of the parameters allowed American women at the time.
Her subjects range from women who are now largely unknown, like Margaret Fuller and Harriet Hosmer, to household names like Emily Dickinson and Rachel Carson. Popova lets each woman's story speak for itself, but she also is primarily interested in how each woman dealt with chronic health issues and how they negotiated love and relationships, which were often found outside of what was seen as acceptable at the time they lived. Margaret Fuller's life was the most revelatory for me; I'd never heard of her, despite her having been famous in her time and a woman who was able to forge an independent path for herself. Rachel Carson's story was also particularly well-told.
I'd recommend this book for anyone who likes an author to explore side trails and ask questions as they arise, or for anyone interested in the lives of women, early feminism, women in science and in how people negotiated love lives that were not traditional and heterosexual in the nineteenth century. I felt early on that this book was too episodic, but Popova had a plan and I'm glad I stuck with it. It's a book that gets more fascinating as it goes.
Her subjects range from women who are now largely unknown, like Margaret Fuller and Harriet Hosmer, to household names like Emily Dickinson and Rachel Carson. Popova lets each woman's story speak for itself, but she also is primarily interested in how each woman dealt with chronic health issues and how they negotiated love and relationships, which were often found outside of what was seen as acceptable at the time they lived. Margaret Fuller's life was the most revelatory for me; I'd never heard of her, despite her having been famous in her time and a woman who was able to forge an independent path for herself. Rachel Carson's story was also particularly well-told.
I'd recommend this book for anyone who likes an author to explore side trails and ask questions as they arise, or for anyone interested in the lives of women, early feminism, women in science and in how people negotiated love lives that were not traditional and heterosexual in the nineteenth century. I felt early on that this book was too episodic, but Popova had a plan and I'm glad I stuck with it. It's a book that gets more fascinating as it goes.
saepsi's review
Although the concept seemed interesting, it needed more of a spine to sustain my interest. I’m all for abstraction but a 500 page book needs something to ground it, and I was not getting that. After the first couple chapters I felt like Popova was just going in circles, and the parts about Fuller in particular had too much focus on romance. Reads less like a meditation on art, science, and beauty and more like Popova rambling without structure about her favorite historical figures.