Before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as 'Human Computers', calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were coteries of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts, these 'coloured computers' used pencil and paper to write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.
Moving from World War II through NASA's golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the women's rights movement, Hidden Figures interweaves a rich history of mankind's greatest adventure with the intimate stories of five courageous women whose work forever changed the world.
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'Mrs. Land worked as a computer out at Langley' my father said, taking a right turn out of the parking lot of First Baptist Church in Hampton, Virginia. PROLOGUE
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(@WmCollinsBooks, 6 September 2016, 373 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveInc, # POPSUGARReadingChallenge, an Anisfield-Wolf book award winner)
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I haven't seen the film but it looks really good so I thought I'd enjoy the book. Sadly, I just didn't get along with this book. I found the writing style far too dry and almost tedious for my liking. The book spans a lot of important events in American history and touches on important issues but I just couldn't engage with it. I just couldn't connect with any of the characters or what was happening. The book left me cold. I really didn't enjoy it.