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A review by hybridplethora30
The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel
3.0
Read this review and more on my blog, uncovered-books.
I received a free copy of The Glass Universe from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Glass Universe explains, in great detail, how women in astronomy helped create our current understanding of the stars, galaxies and the universes.
The Glass Universe covers astronomy from the 1870’s all the way to present day, so Sobel covers a vast time period which showed the advancement of technology and how it only in the last 30 odd years that it was able to benefit astronomy.
With The Glass Universe covering a humongous time period, Sobel managed to cover almost everything in detail. The main focus, however, was on the beginning period of how Mrs. Anna Draper and her fellow ‘human computers’ laid the foundation for future female astronomers.
My favourite part of The Glass Universe was probably finding out how a lot of astronomers were enlisted during the second world war as their skills in astronomy translated well into calculating trajectories, recognising patterns and variations and such-like. Whilst I can see how easily the skills can translate, I just never thought that they ever would. Also, the effect of WW2 on not only astronomy but all sciences was vast and when before the sharing of information was second nature, it suddenly became non-existent until well after the war had finished.
I personally found The Glass Universe quite a struggle to get through, it took me about 7 months of reading it on-and-off. I am not saying that it is a bad book, I quite enjoyed it, but with so much information to take in, and it not being particularly stimulating to read if you are not dedicated to reading this it would be very easy to put down.
If you really enjoy astronomy and want to find out how far along research astronomy has come along, or if you are just generally interested in history then The Glass Universe is perfect for you.
I received a free copy of The Glass Universe from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Glass Universe explains, in great detail, how women in astronomy helped create our current understanding of the stars, galaxies and the universes.
The Glass Universe covers astronomy from the 1870’s all the way to present day, so Sobel covers a vast time period which showed the advancement of technology and how it only in the last 30 odd years that it was able to benefit astronomy.
With The Glass Universe covering a humongous time period, Sobel managed to cover almost everything in detail. The main focus, however, was on the beginning period of how Mrs. Anna Draper and her fellow ‘human computers’ laid the foundation for future female astronomers.
My favourite part of The Glass Universe was probably finding out how a lot of astronomers were enlisted during the second world war as their skills in astronomy translated well into calculating trajectories, recognising patterns and variations and such-like. Whilst I can see how easily the skills can translate, I just never thought that they ever would. Also, the effect of WW2 on not only astronomy but all sciences was vast and when before the sharing of information was second nature, it suddenly became non-existent until well after the war had finished.
I personally found The Glass Universe quite a struggle to get through, it took me about 7 months of reading it on-and-off. I am not saying that it is a bad book, I quite enjoyed it, but with so much information to take in, and it not being particularly stimulating to read if you are not dedicated to reading this it would be very easy to put down.
If you really enjoy astronomy and want to find out how far along research astronomy has come along, or if you are just generally interested in history then The Glass Universe is perfect for you.