Book Review | Two incredible Science Biography collections anchoured together: “Magnificent Minds” and “Remarkable Minds”, featuring women of Science & Medicine by Pendred E. Noyce

Acquired Book By:

I was selected to review “Remarkable Minds” by JKS Communications: A Literary Publicity Firm. JKS is the first publicity firm I started working with when I launched Jorie Loves A Story in August, 2013. I am honoured to continue to work with them now as a 2nd Year Book Blogger. As I was speaking with the publicist at JKS, I realised this was a duology release (at least at this point in time) thereby I enquired if it were possible to receive both editions rather than the last. I received my complimentary ARC copy of Remarkable Minds and a hardback copy of Magnificent Minds direct from the publisher Tumblehome Learning in exchange for an honest review.  I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I am extremely excited and wicked happy for these biography anthologies:

To read my strong appreciation on behalf of Tumblehome Learning Publishing, please direct your attention to the top anchour of my review for ‘The Contaminated Case of the Cooking Contest’.

The following note is an excerpt of my reply to JKS when the review was first pitched:

I just pulled up the pub site and found out this is a companion to *Magnificent Minds*! I never read the first collection of stories either, but what I liked about both releases is how women in history are being showcased! I learnt a small bit about Augusta Ada Bryon yesterday when I was looking through Creston Book’s front list; as they have an Early Reader story upcoming this Autumn about her! Nice to see she made the cut in *Magnificent Minds!*

*Remarkable Minds* is truly the type of book I would have loved to have found as a fourteen year old freshman who was struggling through Biology 101! I loved learning about DNA & Genetics but science, math, and medicine did not come easy to a dyslexic! It was the film “The Race for the Double Helix” where I saw in a teleplay format how Rosalind Franklin gave so much to the understanding of DNA yet is sidelined in both history and science. She was only one of a few women I was seeking out at that point in time and so, I definitely agree on the need for books that can help others like me who are curious to follow history’s mirror of women fore-founders of science to discover these wicked awesome books!

The reason I wanted to share this excerpt with you is to share my initial joy in finding out there are two anthology collections of biographies celebrating women in science & medicine on equal ground. For girls like me who grew up with a deep appreciation for the sciences but without a clear-cut way to pursue them with their learning difficulties and/or in combination with a harder road to navigate in general (most Academia paths are hard on funding long-term, especially when you get into research, etc) – it was quite lovely seeing a publisher take the time to find a way to encourage those of us who are on the brink of discovering our niche in the world. Perhaps a young reader similar to me will find a renewed encouragement about pursuing the Sciences (or Medicine) full-time and re-define how a path can be forged to do so!

Similar to anthologies of Fantasy I regularly review, I decided to select the women who stood out to me the most from the collective whole of whom are featured within both biographies.

Remarkable Minds
Subtitle: 17 Pioneering Women in Science and Medicine

For centuries, women have risen above their traditional roles to pursue a new understanding of the natural world.

This book, which grows out of an exhibit at the Grolier Club in New York, introduces the lives, sayings, and dreams of 16 women over four centuries and chronicles their contributions to mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and medicine.

Some of the notable women portrayed in the book include French mathematician Marie-Sophie Germain, known for her work in Elasticity theory, differential geometry, and number theory; Scottish chemist Elizabeth Fulhame, best known for her 1794 work An Essay on Combustion; and Rita Levi-Montalcini, who, with colleague Stanley Cohen, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of nerve growth factor.

A companion volume to Magnificent Minds by the same author, this book offers inspiration to all girls and young women considering a life in the sciences.

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9780990782902

on 1st September, 2015

Format: Paperback ARC

Pages: 192

Published By: Tumblehome Learning (@TumblehomeLearn)

Available Formats: Hardcover

Converse via Twitter: #ScienceBiography + #WomenOfScience + #SciencePioneers

#TumblehomeLearning and #JKSLitPublicity

My Review of Remarkable Minds:

This is the second edition of a duology series of Science biographies (as at this point in time I am not sure if it will expand past these collections) of whom have enchanted my own heart for wandering back through History’s door and peering inside the interior lives of women who launched careers that would hold the world’s attention. The Introduction includes a beautifully composed reflective response to what is found inside this volume, as it is anchoured with a Foreword and an Acknowledgements Note. Similar to the companion Magnificent Minds this volume retraces the lives of 17 women who led incredibly innovative lives wherein they found the most joy in their pursuit of knowledge, science and/or medicine, and lived the realities of their eras with or without the support of their families or society.

It is a feast for the science-curious and a champion of Women’s Rights, as a tome of insight on Women’s History where hand-picked biographical sketches are eloquently told with the hint of a historical fiction narrative.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi | Mathematician for Scholars

What drew me inside her life was how dedicated she was to re-interpreting mathematics in such a way as to allow others to understand it’s complexity without the fervent headaches given to intense study. She had a gift for breaking down complex equations and for writing a textbook that acted as a guide to scholars and students alike; as she felt in her soul, her truer calling was to be devouted to charity, the infirmed and the poor. She dedicated her life to supporting those without means and to help instill dignity in their compassionate care and housing.

She is known only as the woman who re-wrote a way to understand mathematics, but it’s this small kernel of contribution that might have sparked more veins of forward thought, if you think about how many people benefited by her work? I would imagine it would be hard to disclose or follow a lead about who read her book and who used it’s guidance to fuell their own field of study further due to it’s insight; but to simply ponder it a moment, she was a teacher whose audience was infinite.

Hertha Ayrton | Physicist

Her tenacity for diving straight into what implores her curiosity, she’s a remarkably inspiring woman because I could say the same about myself! There are times in life where fortitude of research is well and good to be undertaken but oft-times, there are moments where a jump-dive straight into the heart of what you want to do is the better entrance! If anything, I could say this would explain how I became a book blogger, as most of what I know now, I learnt in the ‘field’ so to speak as I was navigating the first two years blogging my literary life! There is something to be said for ingenuity and for embracing what interests you, even if your foreknowledge is not as expansive as your hindsight!

I also applauded her for exclaiming the benefit for equal opportunities across gender where whomever has the interest and the ability to draw out the most from their knowledge should be allowed to freely contribute to their fields without discrimination; as this is something that we are still finding in today’s world; not merely her own; as she was still working on improving air quality during WWI. (thus not as far removed from our own living history) What was even more curious is how she attempted to right a wrong during war, to make available a plausible solution to contaminated ‘air’ brought on by noxious gases and was met with only discerning judgement rather than aide.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin | Astronomy

There was something about the layout of her biography that drew my eye, and by the second page I found someone else who was a natural bourne left-handed girl who grew up right-handed! Imagine? Spaced so very far apart from each other and yet, quite interestingly not so far apart at all; as she passed on the year I was bourne! Further still, I am dyslexic and definitely found being right-handed to be more than confusing whilst I was still in school because it off-set so much of regular life. I catch left-handed when I am playing baseball but I can only write with my right hand. I even have a left-handed electric guitar, which means I’ve accomplished a bit of ambidextrous habits myself, but I hadn’t stumbled across anyone else being ‘forced’ to be right or left handed until I read her biography!

Oh my, imagine my delight in reading she gave birth to the field of AstroPhysics! The very field secondary to Quantum Physics which whets a thirst of interest of my own to investigate! I read non-fiction books across various fields of Science but these two in particular are two of my absolute favourites as they encompass so much of our understanding about the universe and the make-up of how the universe was created. It’s two fields that can parlay together and work in tandem with Religion and Spirituality to understand more than what can be seen and what has to be taken on faith alone.

Rosalind E. Franklin | Chemist

I had to smile seeing Ms Franklin included in this collection because I discovered her during my Biology class freshman year (high school, not college) as being a champion of women who are attempting to prove themselves out from under the onslaught of men who do not feel their intellect or their discoveries have any merit if they cannot be reproduced or proven by another set of eyes. I vividly remember reading everything I could in my textbook about her, and without a local library at that point in time, I was a bit limited to what I could research outside of the class. I did enjoy watching The Race for the Double Helix starring Jeff Goldblum (more info on Wikipedia) who portrayed James Watson. It was my first introduction to Goldblum who I would later see as the character I loved most in Jurassic Park during the Summer. If your curious, it’s because he played Ian Malcolm who loved to talk about Chaos Theory and it’s this theory stitched through the novel Jurassic Park which held my rapt interest moreso than how to siphon dinosaur DNA out of fossilised amber. This also goes back to when the internet was not as it it today, thereby a bit useless for research. I am unsure how I saw her so vividly inside a film based on a book published by a peer of hers who sought to discredit her – perhaps, it was aided by the actors or perhaps I simply had been given a nod from Franklin as I tried to unearth more about her as a teen.

It wasn’t until I picked up a convo with Ms Harris via Twitter I learnt Ms Franklin’s legacy was being re-directed into a play I would very much like to see one day! Here is a short exchange that began our convo during a past #ChocLitSaturday!

Reading her biography inside Remarkable Minds felt quite fitting and it was a happy coincidence for me!

At long last, her true legacy can be revealled for those of us who tried to find it years ago, and are happy she can finally be granted permission to celebrate her discoveries even if officially she cannot be recognised due to the rules and perimeters of such things.

The beauty of reading these biographies are the little unknown bits and bobbles you can personally relate too from your own walk and journey through curiosity & knowledge. There are moments of ordinary life whose connections to your own life are happily discovered whilst a proper pause of awe and respect is granted to how much these women sacrificed in order to succeed. They believed in the impossible and set their own path towards aligning how they would bend their fields to their own will of thought. It’s incredible how their minds endeared their curiosities to capitalise on their talents and how their natural bourne fortitude rallied them throughout the moments where only their own self-will could carry them onward.

Magnificent Minds
Subtitle: Sixteen Pioneering Women in Science and Medicine
by Pendred E. Noyce
Source: Publisher via JKS Communications

Did you know that Florence Nightingale pioneered the use of statistics in public health? That Marie Curie is still the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in both physics and chemistry—and the only winner whose daughter also won a Nobel Prize?

That in the 17th century, the most accomplished scholar in mathematical astronomy was a Polish woman, Maria Cunitz? That the pysicist who first explained nuclear fission was a woman, Lise Meitner? That two of the pioneers of computer science were women, Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper?

For centuries, women have risen above their traditional roles to pursue new understanding of the natural world.

This book, which grows out of an exhibit at the Grolier Club in New York, introduces the lives, sayings, and dreams of sixteen women over four centuries and chronicles their contributions to mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, computer science, and medicine. Sweeping and inspirational, this book should be read by all girls and young women who share curiosity about the world and the dream of making a difference.

Genres: Biography / Autobiography, Non-Fiction, Science, Women's Studies

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9780989792479

Published by Tumblehome Learning

on 1st March, 2015

Format: Hardcover Edition

Pages: 180

My review of Magnificent Minds:

There is a beautifully lovely Old World Art Map on a dual layout of focus when you first open Magnificent Minds which made me realise how much I miss my research for my manuscripts and how wicked happy I am to soak inside a bit of non-fiction pertaining to Science & Medicine: on the level of the women who pioneered progress and change! Maps have a way of rooting you into a particular place but they also have the extra appeal of being a harbinger of ‘adventures’ set to enlarge your world-view and strengthen your resolve for remaining curious about the wonders you have yet to see.

The eloquent Foreword matches my own top anchour sentiments on this review which was uplifting to read to say the least! I do believe there needs to be more empathsis placed on excelling in the fields of Science, Mathematics (one dragon I have still yet to slay!), Engineering and Medicine – there is an about-face focus on these fields, and if your struggling with any of the necessary PQs, the path your walking grows in disappointment. For myself, I elected to go a different route, opting to keep Science in my life as an everyday scholar and layreader rather than to pursue an Academic path; however, in doing so, I would eventually like to become active in attending symposiums and other events where the world of Science is available to all. Knowledge and education have a multitude of entrance paths, for me, I found the self-discipline and self-directed study with alternative education outlets is the best path for my own pursuits, however, a traditional trajectory might work for someone else. We each own our living truths and our individual curiosities, by which research and reading can help elevate us to new levels of enrichment.

Maria Cunitz | Astronomer (spoken of highly next to Kepler & Huygens)

What is quite remarkable about an opening statement within her biography, is how she is directly linked to Kepler of whom I will be revealling my thoughts about most directly this month as I am reading Kepler and the Universe by David K. Love. You could say, I was drawn inside science biographies over the past few months when I broached working with a new publisher. It is of no coincidence to find Kepler mentioned alongside one of the women within this book, as I had a feeling paths might become inter-crossed once I dug inside the biographies which wicked out a whet of interest to read!

What was quite intriguing to me, is how she chose to expound upon the work of astronomers of her age and to best them at their game by expanding the language of mathematics and the construction of theories suited to simplification. She was inspiring because outside of her life as a wife, she took it on her shoulders to pursue a field of her choosing as it expanded her curiosity as her mind developed ways to express how to conceptualise what could not readily be explained.

Her work was the foundation on which other women used to their advantage in generations after her, as a method towards continuing where she left off and being re-inspired to follow their own pursuits. I appreciated seeing how well respected she was and how celebrated her published work became by others in her field; as it was a field that was dominated by men.

The cross-references and timeline which are included help paint her story alive as these are some of the reasons I fell in love with this book originally; it’s not merely dialogue and fact, but rather a living history of women who challenged their fields and changed the order of history by what they contributed and the courage they had within them to succeed.

What impressed me the most about Cunitz is how her passionate dedication to learning and understanding more than what was known inspired her to go further than anyone else. She championed

Florence Nightingale | Statistics

It is not a coincidence, I think, finding Ms Nightingale amongst the women in this collection, as she was one of the women I had wished through my school years had been focused on more for in-depth study of pioneering women and persons of whom changed History in the most innovative and inspiring of ways! In many regards, looking back on it now, these collections of biographies would dearly have been beloved treasures of my own if I had known of them then and if my childhood had been forestalled til their publication; in other words, I reiterate how much of a blessing they are to the girls living today who are seeking more about how women can excel and flourish inside the world of Science.

What was such a discouraging prospect for Nightingale is how her family viewed society and station as more important than the worth of a woman’s life and the fortitude in which she is guided towards her true passion. For Nightingale, this was an interest for nursing, hospitals and the understanding of statistics; on a personal note, I too, understood Statistics on a level I never understood traditional mathematics and I, like Nightingale faced road blocks towards pursuing my interests therein. My story ended quite abruptly, as despite seeking out private tutors, it was traditional education that failed to recognise the benefit of tutors and thereby dismissed my knowledge of mathematics rather than to accept an alternative course to the same solutions and conclusions. It was only a decade later after I had left school I learnt the truer reason was not an inability to accept I learnt differently but rather, a plausible way to understand how I learned as my teachers own knowledge was limited. Evenso, my path towards understanding mathematics always felt as if I had drawn the shorter stick.

Courage takes on different levels of depth depending on circumstance and situation; in Nightingale’s case, it was how she defended her right to choose her path against the wishes and intents of her family and how that led her to the Crimean War. It was at war she grew in her strength to make change and to be a forward mover towards seeing the changes become reality. She served at a time where the luxury of a well stocked nursing and medical facility was not possible and she dearly paid for her time amongst the ill, as she too, suffered a terribly weakening illness which had ill effects the rest of her life.

Seeing Nightingale through the larger picture of her life’s work, it’s a discredit she was only portrayed as the founder of nursing when in effect, her life gave more to Statistics, Health Care Reform and the foundation of sanitation on both a medical and personal level of change. She accomplished far more than giving rise to women’s rights and freedom of choice to pursue nursing; she literally changed the way in which we manage health care and how staying on top of bacteria and the passage of germs can truly save more lives than anything else. Her life was dedicated to service but it had more to do with serving others from a perspective of lobbying for reform and a strong voice for reason when logic was hard to sub-navigate against what was locked into place already.

Augusta Ada Bryon: Countess of Lovelace |  Computer Programming

Similar to Nightingale, Ada was forestalled in her efforts to use her mind and her knowledge by her family; of whom were more interested in curing her of madness and eccentrics (her father was out of her life before she could fully know anything about him); allowing her the grace to grow deeper in understanding mathematics and language but with the fault of not truly understanding that such a gain of knowledge is meant to be used, not languished.

Ada, herself, was one who kept her options open by keeping her eyes peeled for new technologies and new emerging methods of taking technology to a new level of innovation. It was how she used the select freedoms she had as a free-thinker bound by society and the customs of her day, to ferret out a correspondence with a friend who not only understood her passion but allowed her the levity to converse with him on his projects. Yet what befell her was her health and her family’s inability to understand her intellect and the curiosity of her mind. She could have given so much more to the world if only they had believed in her enough to allow her to work out the theories and the processes that gave birth to the notion computers (in her day ‘machines’) could be programmed to accept a route towards self-producing equations and understandings of more complicated problems.

One of her best gifts I felt inside this biographical sketch is that she encouraged the children she tutored to ‘imagine’ the mathematical problems, and to be confident in how they ‘saw the equations’ as through their internal sight they would understand more than what was tangibly written down. This sparks the notion of what Einstein left behind for us to understand about our imagination and how what we can see inside our mind can give us back so much more than we realise.

Marie Sklodowska Curie | Physicist

Curie had a humble background where poverty and tragic loss were rampant; yet within her spirit soared the hope for what could come on the morrow. It is a poetic glimpse into how Polish students encouraged each other to study and endeavour to move forward within their chosen fields without the benefit of proper study or educational outlets. She was a bit of a rebel, I suppose in this one regard, as she elected to take the paths that were harder but yielding the most fruit for her troubles. She excelled at University once she understood the math she had not properly learnt previously, and by going to Paris, her path crossed with her husband Pierre Curie.

It’s a curious story about how life does not unfold at your own timestamp of intention but rather, it unfolds gradually whilst guiding you towards where you need to be at the moments where arriving is the best revelation of all. What I felt was most tragic about her life is the absence of knowledge about the materials she and her husband were handling in their lab (radiation from radioactive materials led to their health difficulties) truly could have been avoided if more knowledge about those materials had been known ahead of their experiments. However, then of course, someone else would have dealt with illness and incurable disease as so much of what is known was through experiments and theories carried out to prove what is and what isn’t yet understood.

Her personal life outside of her work was fraught with sorrow and tragedy but her commitment to Physics and to enabling her children (she had two daughters) to have carry forward the curiosity of their parents is a testament to her desire to remain true to herself. She made some choices along the way that gave her strife and woe, but for the most part, her life was dedicated to Science and to understanding more about what encouraged her own mind to understand. The saddest moment for me was how her words left behind spoke of the heart’s truth on her behalf in regards to her marriage to Pierre; they were equal compliments of each other, of whom were blessed to have found in each other a like-minded soul.

There are a total of 33 wonderful biographical sketches of women featured in their fields across Science and Medicine who led the world forward through their ingenuity and their excellence in understanding the harder bits to Science which were still being discovered during their lifetimes. They each approach their field with a dedicated passion and an enquiry towards uncovering a truth not yet known by tackling an indifference towards women and championing the right for women generations after them to find an easier path to pursue the same fields they called their own.

I could have continued to write about these women, as each of them have a story worth sharing and speaking about directly; as I find each of them inspiring for different things they said or accomplished within their lifetimes. However, I wanted to provide a small glimmer of insight into what gave me the most joy whilst I read the biographies – this is partially due to the unexpected nature of what was being disclosed (as even persons of whom I studied in school fell short of the whole truth) and partially due to how engrossing it is to read about this small snapshot of their lives.

You get to retreat inside their mind and their hearts for a brief spell, and then, if your inspired too, you can continue to seek out more of what they did and how they lived during the hours they spent in and outside their field of study. To me, what is compelling about the collection as a whole is how well researched the biographies are and the incredible resources provided to help articulate the portraits into a moving and living portrait of their histories.

One beautiful overlap between the two companion biographies, is how frequently it was mentioned the collective 33 women were self-educated and elected to focus on self-directed lines of enquiry and study. Some learnt more through hand-selected tutors, others attended University but all of them, at some point in their lives relied on self-reliant strength to endeavour to remain curious and keep an active mind engaged by continuously gaining knowledge which took them past where they were previously.

It is interesting because in our own living age, mentioning that your predominately self-educated is a bit of quizzical self-declaration to others who are not as self-directed in their own studies. What was revered then has become a bit more difficult to explain now. I saw my own heart’s instincts towards learning and wanting to know ‘more of’ something in the mirrors of their lives; as each reflection revealled a bit more about human curiosity and an intent to understand the answers to the questions that are not always spoken aloud.

I can only hope as time moves forward, self-directed learning and the lifelong pursuit of knowledge in the capacities that individually draw a measure of passion and joy for each of us will be better regarded as time well spent than something that is misunderstood.

This book review is courtesy of:

JKS Communications: A Literary Publicity Firm

Regrettably I was delayed in sharing my thoughts on this book as it was held over from Autumn due to health reasons and the lightning storms which took away my joy of reading this past Summer. I positively loved my discovery of these wonderfully conceived Science Biographies and although I wanted to post this close to when I revealled my review for The Contaminated Case of the Cooking Contest, I posted this after my personal respite and hiatus from blogging and social media; as I needed to withdraw after the sorrow of January.

This is an incredible publisher for children and I am hoping my readers and followers will welcome the highlighting I’ve given on their behalf as they truly do encourage and enrich young minds who are wicked curious about Science!

Sharing during: #NonFicFriday + #NonFictionFriday

I spent most of last Friday reading these biographies and composing my review, as I had taken a small absence from reading them in order to complete my ruminative thoughts. I was delayed a bit further from revealling the review outright and look forward to encouraging others to seek them out!

Shared via Doing Dewey

{SOURCES: Book Cover Art for “Magnificent Minds” and “Remarkable Minds”, Author Biography, Author Photograph, Book Synopsis, and reviewer badge were provided by JKS Communications and used with permission. Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin. Tweets are embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Comment Box banner made by Jorie in Canva. #NonFictionFriday hosted by Doing Dewey. Badge created by Doing Dewey and used with permission.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.

Comments via Twitter:

Happily #amediting my book showcase on #indiepub #Science Biographies from @TumblehomeLearn! The tome of knowledge is wicked brilliant! :)

— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) January 4, 2016

I am definitely thrilled to get a regular rhythm for #NonFictionFriday as #amreading more #nonfiction per month than in the past! #randomjoy

— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) February 5, 2016

@joriestory Ooooooooh, biographies. <3

— Heather Jacquemin (@EditorHeather) February 8, 2016

.@EditorHeather my #bookreview of #WomenOfScience #biographies (https://t.co/6DVgBZHvWX) wherein celebrate pioneers of #Science & #Medicine!
— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) February 9, 2016