Review: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

An important, remarkable story, poorly told.

Before reading this, I knew very little of the role of women, and especially black women, in the space race. The research that went into this book is great and you get a good sense of the time period and historical context. You can’t help but shake your head at a country that is advanced enough to send people to the moon, but primitive enough to believe that some of those people, just because of their gender or race, are somehow inferior.

Unfortunately, while the writing is clear, it’s dry. The book is more like a wikipedia article than a novel: it does a good job of delivering the information, but you never connect with the story or the remarkable women in it. You don’t hear them speak, you don’t see them laugh, you don’t get to see them at work, and you don’t get a sense for who they are.

In short, the book is worth reading, but it could’ve been much better with more “show, don’t tell.” I’ll have to check out the movie to see how they handled it.

Rating: 3 stars