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Headstrong
- 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
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Publisher's summary
Fifty-two inspiring and insightful profiles of history’s brightest female scientists.
“Rachel Swaby’s no-nonsense and needed Headstrong dynamically profiles historically overlooked female visionaries in science, technology, engineering, and math.”—Elle
In 2013, the New York Times published an obituary for Yvonne Brill. It began: “She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job, and took eight years off from work to raise three children.” It wasn’t until the second paragraph that readers discovered why the Times had devoted several hundred words to her life: Brill was a brilliant rocket scientist who invented a propulsion system to keep communications satellites in orbit, and had recently been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Among the questions the obituary—and consequent outcry—prompted were: Who are the role models for today’s female scientists, and where can we find the stories that cast them in their true light?
Headstrong delivers a powerful, global, and engaging response. Covering Nobel Prize winners and major innovators, as well as lesser-known but hugely significant scientists who influence our every day, Rachel Swaby’s vibrant profiles span centuries of courageous thinkers and illustrate how each one’s ideas developed, from their first moment of scientific engagement through the research and discovery for which they’re best known. This fascinating tour reveals 52 women at their best—while encouraging and inspiring a new generation of girls to put on their lab coats.
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Critic reviews
“Swaby tells the scientists’ stories with energy and clarity. Refreshingly, spouses and children are mentioned only when relevant—and the book is recipe-free.”—New York Times Book Review
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“[A] collection of brisk, bright biographies.”—The Washington Post
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Great Book!!!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 05-21-08
By: Thomas Hager
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Splendid Solution
- Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio
- By: Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Salk became a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the first national vaccination program, and as humanity is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio worldwide, comes this unforgettable chronicle. Salk's work was an unparalleled achievement, and it makes for a magnificent listen.
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Excellent book
- By Tim on 08-10-06
By: Jeffrey Kluger
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The Birth of the Pill
- How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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We know it simply as "the pill", yet its genesis was anything but simple. Jonathan Eig's masterful narrative revolves around four principal characters: the fiery feminist Margaret Sanger, who was a champion of birth control in her campaign for the rights of women but neglected her own children in pursuit of free love; the beautiful Katharine McCormick, who owed her fortune to her wealthy husband, the son of the founder of International Harvester and a schizophrenic.
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Overall Excellent Read
- By Rachel on 04-02-22
By: Jonathan Eig
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The Idea Factory
- Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
- By: Jon Gertner
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Idea Factory, New York Times Magazine writer Jon Gertner reveals how Bell Labs served as an incubator for scientific innovation from the 1920s through the1980s. In its heyday, Bell Labs boasted nearly 15,000 employees, 1200 of whom held PhDs and 13 of whom won Nobel Prizes. Thriving in a work environment that embraced new ideas, Bell Labs scientists introduced concepts that still propel many of today’s most exciting technologies.
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Great story -- horrible pauses
- By Rodney on 01-29-13
By: Jon Gertner
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The Theory That Would Not Die
- How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy
- By: Sharon Bertsch McGrayne
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Bayes' rule appears to be a straightforward, one-line theorem: by updating our initial beliefs with objective new information, we get a new and improved belief. To its adherents, it is an elegant statement about learning from experience. To its opponents, it is subjectivity run amok. Sharon Bertsch McGrayne here explores this controversial theorem and the human obsessions surrounding it.
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Who is the intended audience?
- By Billy on 07-21-14
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Tuxedo Park
- A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: John Kroft
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late 1930s, legendary financier, philanthropist, and society figure Alfred Lee Loomis gathered the most visionary scientific minds of the 20th century at his state-of-the-art laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York. He established a top-secret defense laboratory at MIT and personally bankrolled pioneering research into new, high-powered radar detection systems that helped defeat the German Air Force and U-boats. With Ernest Lawrence, he pushed Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fund research in nuclear fission, which led to the development of the atomic bomb.
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Fantastic book, weak technical execution
- By Paul on 10-13-18
By: Jennet Conant
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The Inheritance
- A Family on the Front Lines of the Battle Against Alzheimer's Disease
- By: Niki Kapsambelis
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Every 69 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Of the top 10 killers, it is the only disease for which there is no cure or treatment. For most people, there is nothing that they can do to fight back. But one family is doing all they can. The DeMoe family has the most devastating form of the disease that there is: early onset Alzheimer's, an inherited genetic mutation that causes the disease in 100 percent of cases, and has a 50 percent chance of being passed onto the next generation.
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A Cover-to-Cover Slug in the Gut, but Inspiring
- By Gillian on 04-16-17
By: Niki Kapsambelis
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The Secret History of the War on Cancer
- By: Devra Davis Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The War on Cancer was run by leaders of industries that made cancer-causing products and sometimes also profited from drugs and technologies for finding and treating the disease. Filled with compelling personalities and never-before-revealed information, The Secret History of the War on Cancer shows how we began fighting the wrong war, with the wrong weapons, against the wrong enemies, a legacy that persists to this day.
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Silly Book
- By Adam Smith on 12-24-14
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The Exceptions
- Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science
- By: Kate Zernike
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1963, a female student was attending a lecture given by Nobel Prize winner James Watson, then tenured at Harvard. At nineteen, she was struggling to define her future. She had given herself just ten years to fulfill her professional ambitions before starting the family she was expected to have. For women at that time, a future on the usual path of academic science was unimaginable—but during that lecture, young Nancy Hopkins fell in love with the promise of genetics. Confidently believing science to be a pure meritocracy, she embarked on a career.
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Unbelievable and deeply inspiring.
- By Lilit Garibyan on 06-05-23
By: Kate Zernike
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Rigor Mortis
- How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions
- By: Richard Harris
- Narrated by: Joe Delafield
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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American taxpayers spend $30 billion annually funding biomedical research, but over half of these studies can't be replicated due to poor experimental design, improper methods, and sloppy statistics. Bad science doesn't just hold back medical progress, it can sign the equivalent of a death sentence for terminal patients. In Rigor Mortis, Richard Harris explores these urgent issues with vivid anecdotes, personal stories, and interviews with the top biomedical researchers. We need to fix our dysfunctional biomedical system - before it's too late.
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Eye opening introduction to biomedical R&D
- By Amazon Customer on 09-18-18
By: Richard Harris
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Rosalind Franklin
- A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of Women in History)
- By: Hourly History
- Narrated by: Matthew J. Chandler-Smith
- Length: 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Rosalind Franklin was what can only be called an overlooked genius. Although she was not fully credited for the feat at the time, her work led to major breakthroughs in our understanding of DNA. In fact, she took the first X-ray photo of DNA in all of its double helix glory. By the time her former colleagues were being showered with accolades for results they made at least partially based on her findings, Franklin would not be around to see it. Sadly, it’s believed that her use of X-ray equipment gave her terminal cancer, cutting her life short at age 37.
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Covers the facts
- By Freda St on 08-21-24
By: Hourly History
What listeners say about Headstrong
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Michiko
- 12-30-17
Inspiring
I love the concept for this book. While each individual woman included is extraordinary, listing 52 female scientists - instead of, say, 10 - drives home the message that any girl, with enough hard work, can become an expert in any field she wants. There are great lessons to be learned here about curiosity, determination and perseverance in the face of any obstacle. I learned new things about already well-known scientists (Florence Nightingale, Sally Ride, Rachel Carson, etc.) and discovered a couple of new favorites as well (Tilly Edinger, Helen Taussig).
The narration was good overall. Fortgang expresses a genuine interest in the material. Unfortunately, her performance is marred by awkward attempts at various European accents. The people who put this audiobook together should have asked her to read quotes in her own voice.
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1 person found this helpful
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- V. Heibel
- 08-14-17
Great Content, Annoying Performance
I loved the content! However the performance took away from the message. The mispronunciation of both common and scientific terms was annoying. The accented voices used to read quotes were both inappropriate and distracting.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Payton Reynolds
- 02-26-21
Inspiring
As a young female PhD student, this novel radiates and residents. Thank you Rachel Swaby for composing and ensuring the legacy these extraordinary ladies paved for all women in STEM.
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- serine
- 02-10-16
Essential history
So many wonderful women in science. I am thankful for Rachel Swaby for bringing them to society's awareness. I have heard better versions of some of these histories, but have never heard them compiled together in a book like this, which really highlights the accomplishments of women, despite all they had to overcome to force their way into education and the sciences. Further, even though I was aware of many women in the book, because I love the history of science, there were still some new biographies for me to enjoy.
I often had to stop reading to reflect on how much they suffered and how hard they worked some that women today could get an education and have an easier time entering science related professions. The story of Mary Taussig was my favorite. Rejected by Harvard and other universities, she persevered only to change the face of medicine. Babies born with heart defects died. There was not a whole lot that could be done. But Taussig changed all that. She is my new hero.
My favorite part of the book was the history of Harvard, thrown into many of the biographies, and how it worked so hard to keep women from entering universities, not just their university, but all universities. The way male experts in a position of power treated intelligent women is without question an important thing to understand and remember.
So many wonderful women. A must read.
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2 people found this helpful
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- mtsuda90
- 06-25-16
Role models for young women
Highly recommended, a much-needed book portraying the lives and works of strong women scientists. Fifty-two excellent role models for young women. I would have liked to see more biographies on women living outside the U.S., Europe, and Russia.
For most of the audible version, the narrator spoke in U.S. English. However, in parts where people from other countries were quoted, she slipped into accents that sounded stereotypical and almost disdainful. I would have liked it better if she spoke those parts without the accents.
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4 people found this helpful
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- P.
- 05-27-15
Needed reading for all
These 52 vignettes of women who labored because of their love of science or technology is fascinating and needed reading by anyone interested in history of science or technology and by all teachers
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3 people found this helpful
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- Yoli
- 01-24-20
Stories We Need To Know.
Everyone should know about these women! Great read for teens. My high school class read this for book club. We were able to use this for supplemental text for English and Science. Short, interesting, well done!
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- Barbara Reilly
- 09-14-17
Enjoyed It
Impressive research effort about some very impressive women. Glad I didn't miss it. More coming?
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- KD
- 09-04-17
Disorganized
Too many stories. Not enough depth into any one. Disappointing to never get to "know" the women at all, just there name and accomplishment. Not fun to listen to.
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