Book Club: STEM Summer Reads

This series of posts started as solely books on professional development, but I have also come across some interesting reads to keep our nerdy brains engaged! This great list of recommendations has topics ranging "from brains to biology to space to art to physics". These are the few I've read so far!

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I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Amazon’s book of the year for 2012.

This novel tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor Southern tobacco farmer who's cells were taken without her knowledge during her cancer treatment.  Her cancerous cells became what scientists know as HeLa.  These cells have played an import role in medical research and various discoveries such as the polio vaccine, the atom bomb’s effects, cloning, gene mapping, and more.

The author entwines the story of the Lacks family with the controversies surrounding HeLa: the experimentation done on African Americans, the beginnings of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control what we are made of.   The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the humanity that is behind science, both good and bad.

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I also read, Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss. This book was not what I expected. My first impression was that it was simply a grown up picture book, but the author put great thought into this work of art. She did the illustrations herself, and the font was created especially for the book, named after the spiriualist the Curies would visit.

This was a quick read, but was a well written history of the life of the Curies who were lab partners and spouses. Their story was broken up with information about what their discoveries later helped create. Marie Curie was an inspirational woman who maintained her career, family, and personal life, even if the lines would sometimes blur. Pierre Curie did pass away and Marie met someone new, a married man. This scandal caused many colleagues to ask her not to appear to accept her Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Her response was that her personal life should not be of consequence to her career; something that professional women must answer to this day (maternity leave, moving to be with spouses, etc).  Learning about Marie Curie, an influential woman who made great strides in her career, is beneficial to any young woman studying in the STEM fields.

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I'm a bit of a Feynman-freak. Richard Feynman assisted in the development of the atomic bomb, was on the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, a professor, the 1965 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, and a clever and creative individual (hobby of cracking safes, taught himself to play the bongos and how to draw). This summer I read one of his autobiographies, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: a collection of entertaining anecdotes ranging from his days in school, his career as a physicist, to how he found interests outside of his work. I found it to be humorous and give insight on decisions about your education, career, and finding a work-life balance between a fruitful career, outside interests and raising a family.

This book first started my interest in Feynman's life and career. I then read Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track, a collection of over forty years of his correspondence with family, colleagues, students, fans, and others! The book was organized by his daughter Michelle who inherited a few file cabinets full of her father's letters.

The letters highlight the personal relationships that underwrote the key developments in modern science, but also form the most intimate look at Feynman. While his autobiography briefly mentioned his family, this goes into his relationship with his parents, wives, and children. Feynman's words give more advice (especially as fans write in asking questions!) as well as depicting how he approached his career, family, and life long pursuit of knowledge and maintain an inquisitive mind.

A side note:  if you would like to learn more about Feynmen, check out these videos!  Many of the lectures, documentaries, and TV specials are mentioned in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman and Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track.