Given the extensive history of Gloria Steinem and feminism and how renowned her work is, you kinda have to go in knowing that it's going to be fantastic. Even if I had my doubts, they were assauged by my first foray into Steinem's work when I read Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions about two years ago. She mentions in the introduction to the book that she had originally intended for this book to be similar, simply publishing articles collected, rather than what it turned into. This is a collection of essays that go beyond what she had originally published for each of these subjects, though they do get into the original content as well. It's broken down into five parts that cover different concepts. Part 1: Phyllis Freud - this may be new favorite thing ever. I loved her reversal of Freud's writing. I always knew that his thoughts on the actions and thoughts of those of my gender were nuts, but I love how succinctly the gender bend works to show just how nuts he was. I especially appreciate the way she laid bare all the politics in his theories. Mostly, though, it was just a barrel of fun to read it all reversed and bent. Part 2: The Strongest Woman in the World - I knew that I had grown up a beneficiary of the work of women like Beverly Francis, but I had never known her name or really the beginning of the idea that women could be physically strong. We still suffer set backs all the time when some refuse to acknowledge this, but women like Bev Francis and things like Title IV keep working their magic and normalize women and strength. For the record though, anyone who thinks that it is somehow more physically demanding to life heavy things than to create and birth a child is either stupid or willfully ignorant. As women like this make obvious, women have always had the ability for physical strength, priming and a refusal to see it have kept us from realizing it for far too long. While I'm still only weights-curious, I have known a few women who lift and they are amazing to behold. Aside from the work of power-lifting and bodybuilding, Francis is also a good role model for dealing with the twists and turns of making something new acceptable for women. That she has become friends with fellow competitors just adds to it. Part 3: Sex, Lies, and Advertising - I have long hated magazines for many of these very reasons, even the ones I didn't know were a problem that magazine writers and editors had. I hated the  advertisements and the way they never seemed to talk about anything that wasn't products. I never did pick up Ms. Magazine, but I had long since given up on the whole thing well before I was old enough to understand what Ms. would be talking about anyway. This whole thing makes so much sense out of everything. It also helps that I read The Feminine Mystique and got the reference to Friedan's chapters on women's magazines. Any reader would understand the point without it, but it helped really drive it home. Part 4: The Masculinization of Wealth - yeah, I think there's a part of us all that know us but don't quite want to face it in print. I think we could all benefit from a de-masculinization of wealth though. If for no better reason than that these guys should have to earn what they have or lost it to someone more capable, whatever their gender. Part 5: Revaluing Economics - I've also come up against this thought process before too. The first time was when writing my first blog. You gotta put your money where your mouth is and that's much harder to do than you think it is when you start out. Still, it's a worthy endeavor. Part 6: Doing Sixty - I can't wait..... I mean, I totally can, but I'm looking forward to a time in my life when I feel like I can get a little more radical. I do feel it, though, getting easier every day. I'm only 35 now and I can't wait to see what I turn into by then. If Steinem is any indication, it's gonna be a fun decade. All together, it's an amazing work of non-fiction that needs to be read widely by all women, even if you don't think of yourself as a feminist. While I understand the allure of avoiding the word, I also think that being a housewife doesn't preclude you from supporting the endeavors of other women when their products are worthy of your cash. I know plenty of housewives who are feminists and breadwinning women who say they aren't, but as long as they support each other, I don't give a damn how they describe themselves. All the women I know could benefit from reading at least one of these parts. I know I certainly have.

This is an incredibly informative book on an important issue all over the world. It's a quick read for anyone interested in brushing up on the subject and getting involved.

Most of the information wasn't new for me as it was also mostly covered in Half the Sky, but it was sorted and presented differently. First of all, this is based on a documentary, so the author knew that much of the information had been presented before. She chose to focus on some of the finer details of the situation rather than the overarching themes of why girls aren't getting educated. She starts with the stories of the individual girls seen in the documentary and then widened the view to show that their situations are representative of the issue in their country or region.

The other benefit that this book has over Half the Sky is that it is predominantly uplifting. Each of the girls mentioned and who the reader gets to know has found a way to school and is flourishing. The author mentions that they are the lucky ones, and that more needs to be done, but she doesn't leave the reader with the feeling that it's too big to hope for there ever being a resolution. That may seem a little less realistic to some or like there is false hope, but it depends on the reader.

The book is clearly targeted at a younger reader and as a started into the issue, so she's probably banking on the reader not having read anything like Half the Sky  yet. As a starter into the issue and a book that focused on education alone (the other one has a whole host of women's issues that it discusses), it's fanstastic. It introduces the problem well, it gives the reader someone to relate to in order to inspire the reader to help with the problem and then it even gives possible ways for any reader to help with the problem. I wouldn't recommend it to someone already familiar with this issue only because it would be redundant. On the other hand, it'd be the first book I mentioned to someone asking about the importance of educating girls worldwide alonside their brothers, especially if that person has a tendency to want to help with things they are informed about.

The ways to help aren't perfect and are centered around the reader being a youth or student. They aren't necessarily fit for everyone, but they are options to get one thinking about what can be done. They are small steps to take in that direction.

A truly interesting story and program that I had never heard of. It makes me wish this kind of testing and solutions were more prolific.

This is the kind of title that really catches my attention, especially in non-fiction. I'm a huge fan of non-fiction. The whole concept of the Arrowsmith school amazes me. This book not only does a great job of recounting the life of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, in her own words, but also many of the categories of deficits that people can have and that hinder their potential. I found myself thinking about some bright underachievers I know and wondering if the program would suit them.

The idea that you can simply train your brain past learning disorders by finding a way to trigger that part of the brain into action is exciting. The possibilities then seem endless for everyone. I know that there are implementation issues, especially since it doesn't seem feasible that this can be done online for now and because not many schools have this program yet, but I'm hopeful, given the growth the program has had and the countless success stories. Maybe we'll look back one day at all the research and programs done by the Arrowsmith team and see an entirely different world for children and their potential than we do now.

While her own story and the formation of the school were interesting, I was particularly drawn to the stories of the students and the cognitive exercises created to help them past their learning disorders. I was surprised that it sometimes took years after starting a set of exercises to really see progress in normal life, but that students persisted through them. I know far too many people that would have given up in a few weeks if they weren't seeing improvement. I was also impressed with the parents who sent their children to be evaluated and who enrolled them into the school later. I looked up the school and just the evaluation is $2000. But in the words of one person, "You pay it now or you pay it later."

I can't remember if that was a student or a parent, but it remains a good point. The people who benefit from this program are people who are intelligent but have learning disorders that hinder their ability to get a rounded education and then later hinder their ability to get or keep a good job. Many of the adult students had been labeled "bright but lazy" or as underachievers because a deficit, as the book actually calls it, kept them from learning a skill that they needed.

I really did appreciated using "deficit" instead of "disorder". It was a great substitution because deficit implies that a person doesn't have something rather the way disorder makes it seem like something is wrong with that person.  Maybe it's just semantics but I feel like picking up a skill that's hard to get is a lot better of a way to frame it than trying to "fix" someone.

This was a fascinating read, well listen. I listened to the audiobook while I was cleaning the house I was moving out of and then while doing some prep work on the one that I moved into. I would just let it run, set up on a chair, and my husband wandered in after a while to comment on how interesting he was finding it too. It amused me because normally he couldn't care less about whatever book I'm playing. It caught his attention too because of the way it takes great care to describe each deficit, tie it to a personal experience of some student, give a way to relate to it or experience a small part of the decifit and then elaborate on what was done to attain the skill that it blocked. It also went into the coping or compensation methods that the students had prior to being treated, which were fascinating to listen to. We all compensate for things we aren't so good at with things we are good at, but the level of compensations necessary were astounding.

My husband also recently had a concussion and his resulting troubles added a new level of interest for me to the work that had originally drawn Young to her work, Alexander Luria's work with brain trauma. That was an interesting story that I'd like to read one day too.

I did find it a little disappointing that the book didn't go into deeper detail on the exercises that were created to address some of the deficits, but I get the risk that could be imposed in doing so. I wouldn't want any sort of medical book to be detailed enough for someone with half an inclination to try to fix themselves or those around them. It should be left to professionals.

Personally, I think it would be great if everyone who works with children had read the book and if there were many more programs in schools. I am not proposing the system subscribe to this one method but I feel like it could be a good augment to many existing programs that address learning disorders. Schools could potentially do an assessment on students at the beginning of giving them compensations so that they could both get by with what they can do now, but also attain the missing skill when possible. It seems like that would be a win for everyone. But I'm no professional and wouldn't know the reasons for not incorporating something like this in a school system other than cost. I do get how costs of things can be prohibitive in public school systems and, as stated above, the assessment is quite expensive.

There is so much to love in this book! I've been wanting to read more about her ever since I first heard that it was Hedy Lamarr who had so much to do with today's technology and it did not disappoint.

The story was sure to be interesting, having heard about Lamarr's participation in this invention prior to reading (well, listening to) this book. I knew of her Hollywood fame too, and that she had emigrated to the US, but I didn't know about the Nazi ex or the way she came to acting or what prompted the invention.

The book takes the time to tell her whole story, not just the inventing timeframe. When I think of celebrity biographies, I don't tend to think of women who were on the run from Nazi's or who invent things. All told, her story is pretty exciting.

Funny enough, the word "folly" isn't totally appropriate but I get why it was used in the title here. She had all the beauty and brains that one could hope for, but she had made a fairly significant error in her calculations for what her invention could do or be used for and she trusted the wrong people, not that it was stolen. It just wasn't appreciated for what it could do. Her thoughts were on a weapon whose guidance can't be jammed while her idea was so much more versatile.

It was also nice to know that she did live to see that not only was her work appreciated and used by a wide range of things, but also long enough to be accredited the invention and appreciated for bringing it to the world. It was interesting to see the ideas she was privy to that ultimately led to her putting them together in this way.

The other great thing about the book is that "spread spectrum radio" had two inventors and it may not equally go into both, but Antheil wasn't exactly neglected here. His progress through life was also told. I particularly loved the way he was approached about meeting her and his response to his friends. It was really cute.

Altogether, this is a must read for women in science, and should count for Read Harder's task 13, Read a nonfiction about technology. It wasn't my pick for that but I came across it and am glad I gave it a listen. It was read by Bernadette Dunne, who did a beautiful job with it.