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

3.0

I got this book because it was the book that Mary Robinette Kowal used in writing the Lady Astronaut series. It is an interesting title that seeks to tell the story of the so-called "human computers" - the women whose handwritten calculations (and, later, computer code) were essential for the beginning of space explorations. I liked the book, but I don't like the for the majority of the book the style doesn't even acknowledge the existence of an author.

This style is reminiscent of omniscient narration in fiction, and Holt fails to acknowledge the sources of the stories she tells. When the internal thoughts of a computer were told to me, I kept wondering "Was this detail taken from an interview, or did the author add her fancy to it" and I never got an answer. I have trouble trusting a nonfiction, especially if the author fails to give me a satisfactory look at their research.