A review by grace_astudentreading
Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt

informative medium-paced

3.0

I learned a lot from this book, but I think the biggest thing I learned was that I don’t really have an interest in rockets or rocket science as a topic. So this book was not quite for me. That point aside, there was still a lot about the book I liked. I thought it did a very good job following the women and their careers and lives. I liked that it focused purely on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and several of the women there. I did struggle a bit at first, feeling overwhelmed by all the women being introduced, but as the book went on and the ‘cast’ remained consistent it was easy to remember everyone. I also liked how it was arranged by decade, and referenced many of the important historical events of the time period. Lastly, I thought it had a very strong ending, and I found the epilogue especially moving. But at the end of the day I just did not find the topic of rockets and rocket science that interesting, and I never cared about the women’s work as much as I was supposed to. So overall while I liked this book it was not as fascinating as I hoped.