|
Good Holiday Reading from MentorNet
Are you looking for a good book to curl up with on a winter evening? Do you have a science-loving
reader on your holiday gift list? Here are some fiction and nonfiction recommendations from MentorNet
board members and staff about science, women, and - of course - mentoring.
Seaside Pleasures by Ann Lingard (Littoralis Press, UK, 2003)
Ann Lingard was a practicing biologist and is now a creative novelist. The novel is about a contemporary
woman scientist, with much science in it as settings. And it's interesting in historical terms, and one
learns about how women were taught biology in Victorian times, as well. But it is also a love story and
hugely intriguing. It's compelling reading.
- Nancy Lane
(Note: Seaside Pleasures is available through Amazon UK or direct from the publisher, http://www.littoralispress.co.uk.)
Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett (W. W. Norton, 1996)
This quietly compelling collection of short stories set in the 18th and 19th centuries as well as the present,
and won the National Book Award. Each story revolves around the life sciences, and most have women at their center.
The writing is wonderful, and the stories are unusual tales driven by the characters' passions for science and
complicated by their relationships with one another.
- Carolyn McMaster
What Do You Want to Be? Explore Space Sciences (Sally Ride Science, 2004)
The Third Planet: Exploring Earth from Space by Sally Ride and Tam O’Shaughnessy (Sally Ride Science, 2004)
What Do You Want to Be? for girls 9 to 12 conveys the excitement of space science and prompts young readers to
think about the things they like to do. It features twelve engaging biographies of contemporary women scientists,
and fun activities related to each career (word puzzles, things to wonder about) are next to each biography.
The Third Planet is also for young readers. With photographs of the Earth from space, it explores everything that
makes our planet such a special member of the solar system, and details natural features like volcanoes, glaciers,
and hurricanes, and also the effects of humans: dams, rainforest destruction, and city lights at night.
- Sally Ride
Getting It Right: R&D Methods for Science and Engineering, by Peter Bock (Academic Press, 2001)
I found this book about methodology surprisingly engaging. As described in the forward, "Students will...harden
their theoretical knowledge." The book is rather formal and detailed, but at the same full of interesting tips and
illustrations. I learned new effective and efficient ways for shouldering the burden of proof in my projects.
Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever (Princeton University Press, 2003)
This book offers a lot more than the message "if only women would ask, they would receive." Instead, the authors
focus on the nuanced, subtle ways in which women are discouraged from asking, and discounted or dismissed when they
do make requests or demands. The book is extremely well documented and offers a wealth of additional reading material
for those interested in the more subtle aspects of differences in the opportunities for men and women in our society.
- Carol Muller
Why So Slow: The Advancement of Women by Virginia Valian (MIT Press, 1999)
This book provides a really thorough and rigorous exploration of the issues facing women as they advance in organizations.
A particularly helpful concept that she offers is gender schemas-that we all have implicit hypotheses about gender differences.
- Stacy Blake-Beard
Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity, by Ella L.J. Edmondson Bell and
Stella Nkomo (Harvard Business School Press, 2001)
This considers the different paths and experiences black and white women have before they enter corporate life, and how
those differences shape their professional experiences in corporations. It offers fascinating insights and great food for
thought about how individuals’ experiences construct their professional work and relationships.
- Carol Muller
Love is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends by Tim Sanders (Three Rivers Press, 2003)
This is a fun read about networking, thinking outside the box, and doing the right thing.
- Julie Shimer
Stand By Me: The Risks and Rewards for Mentoring Today’s Youth by Jean Rhodes (Harvard University Press, 2002)
I highly recommend Stand by Me for those interested in youth mentoring, It takes a close look at mentoring
relationships through a study of Big Brother-Big Sister programs, and provides good data about circumstances when
mentoring is effective, when it is ineffective, and when it may be downright counterproductive. This sort of study
can really help us all become more sophisticated about mentoring and mentoring programs.
- Carol Muller
© 2004 MentorNet, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from
MentorNet News in whole or in part, as long as you include complete
attribution, including live link to the MentorNet web site. Please also notify
us at info@mentornet.net where the
material will appear. Attribution should read: "From MentorNet News, by
MentorNet, the E-Mentoring Network for Women in Engineering and Science.
www.MentorNet.net"
|