Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collections
Publication
Seal Press (2006), Paperback, 256 pages
Description
She's Such a Geek is a ground-breaking anthology that celebrates women who have flourished in the male-dominated realms of technical and cultural arcana. Editors Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders bring together a diverse range of critical and personal essays about the meaning of female nerdhood by women who are in love with genomics, obsessed with blogging, learned about sex from Dungeons and Dragons, and aren't afraid to match wits with men or computers. More than anything, She's Such a Geek is a celebration and call to arms: it's a hopeful book which looks forward to a day when women will invent molecular motors, design the next ultra-tiny supercomputer, and run the government.
Media reviews
User reviews
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
This anthology, edited by two of the editors of sf blog io9, is a collection of personal essays by a number of "geeky" women. Many of the essays are autobiographical, chronicling the writers' experiences over their years in whatever geeky field they decided to pursue-- usually the hard sciences.
The problem with the book is that the essays get repetitive. Each woman overcoming adversity, succeeding in her field,* and reconciling her geek identity with her female identity gets old after a while. Despite a claim in the introduction that the book "looks forward to a day when women will... write science fiction epics," there's no sf fans represented in the book at all-- despite that surely being one of the largest areas of female geekdom. (I know from going to conventions that female Stargate fans exist in very large numbers!) The closest we get is an (interesting) essay by Devin Kalile Grayson about being the first woman to write a Batman ongoing and a (disappointingly unperceptive) depiction of why Michelle Villanueva likes pretending to be Neville Longbottom on GreatestJournal. I'd have liked to seen more tales of fandom, as well as more women who were geeky in ways outside of the hard sciences: I know plenty of geeky literary women, for example!
Overall, though, it's a good collection, and there certainly are some great essays in it. There's only one outright bad one ("I am Wonk, Hear Me Analyze" by Charlie Anders), a couple dull or strange ones, and many great ones. It's well worth reading for anyone interested in the issue of women in science.
* Actually, there are a few who outright fail, and many others don't quite end up where they thought they would, but overall there's definitely a feeling of triumph to the collection.
Show More
Almost all of them discuss the difficulty of balancing a career like this with "feminine" concerns such as childcare or sex or just plain-old gender discrimination. Many of them are also funny, which is a nice plus. Particular favorites of mine included "Really Good for a Girl" by Kory Wells, about a computer programmer whose mom never lets her be second best; "Dial-up Desire" by Jami Schoenewies, about a girl who runs her own BBS to meet boys; "Suzy the Computer vs. Dr. Sexy" by Suzanne E. Franks, which introduces the idea of the Nerdonna/Whore complex; Roopa Ramamoorthi, about an Indian molecular biologist who comes to America and ends up in an arranged marriage; and "Why BMX XXX Sucks" by Mara Poulsen, about a female game programmer.The problem with the book is that the essays get repetitive. Each woman overcoming adversity, succeeding in her field,* and reconciling her geek identity with her female identity gets old after a while. Despite a claim in the introduction that the book "looks forward to a day when women will... write science fiction epics," there's no sf fans represented in the book at all-- despite that surely being one of the largest areas of female geekdom. (I know from going to conventions that female Stargate fans exist in very large numbers!) The closest we get is an (interesting) essay by Devin Kalile Grayson about being the first woman to write a Batman ongoing and a (disappointingly unperceptive) depiction of why Michelle Villanueva likes pretending to be Neville Longbottom on GreatestJournal. I'd have liked to seen more tales of fandom, as well as more women who were geeky in ways outside of the hard sciences: I know plenty of geeky literary women, for example!
Overall, though, it's a good collection, and there certainly are some great essays in it. There's only one outright bad one ("I am Wonk, Hear Me Analyze" by Charlie Anders), a couple dull or strange ones, and many great ones. It's well worth reading for anyone interested in the issue of women in science.
* Actually, there are a few who outright fail, and many others don't quite end up where they thought they would, but overall there's definitely a feeling of triumph to the collection.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Mrs_McGreevy
Calling all you geek girls out there: this one's for you. It's a collection of essays by some staggeringly accomplished women about growing up with an interest and ability in such traditionally male-oriented areas as math, computers, technology, and gaming. You'll definitely find something here
Show More
that strikes a chord. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2006
Physical description
256 p.; 8.11 inches
ISBN
1580051901 / 9781580051903
Local notes
OCLC = 353
Google Books
Google Books