This is going to be a short post tonight, because I’m tired and don’t have a ton to say. A couple weeks ago, I read Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterley. This is the book the movie was based on. This is one of those rare cases where I actually saw the movie before I read the book, but seeing the movie first didn’t dampen my enjoyment of the book, because they’re both great in their own right.
The book follows a group of African American women mathematicians working at NASA from World War II through the 1970s. It highlights their work as computers for NASA and their contributions to airplane developments during WWII and then their work on the first spaceships that put men into orbit and then sent them to the moon. But it also focuses on their struggles with racism and sexism throughout these turbulent decades in history.
Hidden Figures is really a fascinating book. It goes in depth on all the topics, but it didn’t feel like it was focusing on too much. The book also covers so much more than the movie. I had no idea Hidden Figures had anything to do with WWII. And that scene in the movie where the main character is struggling to find a bathroom she can use is only a couple of sentences in the book.
It was certainly dry at times, and I admit I struggled to keep all the women straight (I kept mixing up the various women named Mary). And I wish the Apollo 13 incident was given more than a passing reference, but that was probably thanks to the weight it was given in the movie.
The long and short of it is that the book and movie are very different beasts, but I enjoyed them both, and I particularly enjoyed the book. If you’ve seen Hidden Figures but haven’t read the book, or if you enjoy science history books, I definitely recommend you give this book a try.