The Calculating Stars
If I know you in real life, there's a solid chance I'm buying you this book for Christmas. It's got elements of Contact, Hidden Figures, and The Right Stuff, all wrapped up in a fantastic story that had me crying in all the best ways.
The story opens in 1951, with a meteorite landing on Washington D.C. and taking out most of the eastern seaboard. When it's realized that this is likely an extinction event - an extended winter followed by rising temperatures that will eventually make the planet uninhabitable - the space race kicks into high gear. But in this timeline, it's not about being the first to set foot on the moon. It's about figuring out how to establish colonies on the moon and possibly Mars so that humanity keeps going.
At the center of all of this is Elma York, a brilliant mathematician and pilot who wants nothing more than to be an astronaut. But this is still America in the 1950s, and despite the stated goal of establishing a colony on the moon, the politicians are hesitant to send a woman into space.
Elma is an utterly fantastic character. She's incredibly smart and driven. She keeps learning new things and discovering new blind spots. Elma faces both sexism and antisemitism (along with a heaping dose of anxiety). As she makes more friends she becomes more aware of racism and the additional challenges that some of the other women have to overcome to get to space.
I loved this book. I bought the sequel immediately upon finishing it, and I can't wait to crack it open. I also went back and read the short story that started it all: The Lady Astronaut of Mars. And, like I said, this made my Christmas shopping easy this year. Nearly everyone I know is going to love this book as much as I did (I hope). It's not often that a book like this comes around, and I can't wait to share it.
The story opens in 1951, with a meteorite landing on Washington D.C. and taking out most of the eastern seaboard. When it's realized that this is likely an extinction event - an extended winter followed by rising temperatures that will eventually make the planet uninhabitable - the space race kicks into high gear. But in this timeline, it's not about being the first to set foot on the moon. It's about figuring out how to establish colonies on the moon and possibly Mars so that humanity keeps going.
At the center of all of this is Elma York, a brilliant mathematician and pilot who wants nothing more than to be an astronaut. But this is still America in the 1950s, and despite the stated goal of establishing a colony on the moon, the politicians are hesitant to send a woman into space.
Elma is an utterly fantastic character. She's incredibly smart and driven. She keeps learning new things and discovering new blind spots. Elma faces both sexism and antisemitism (along with a heaping dose of anxiety). As she makes more friends she becomes more aware of racism and the additional challenges that some of the other women have to overcome to get to space.
I loved this book. I bought the sequel immediately upon finishing it, and I can't wait to crack it open. I also went back and read the short story that started it all: The Lady Astronaut of Mars. And, like I said, this made my Christmas shopping easy this year. Nearly everyone I know is going to love this book as much as I did (I hope). It's not often that a book like this comes around, and I can't wait to share it.
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