Margaret Alic

A look at the history of women in science. It is a bit too scholarly to be of general interest; for those with an interest in either the history of science or gender studies, it has a lot of good material. The main problem is that there are too many places where the author reports things as factual that we really have no way of knowing, things in pre-history where the knowledge is only tentative. She reports then in a way that promulgates an idea now out of favor (but still popular when the book was written, and still popular in some feminist circles) that women built, created, and invented nearly everything in prehistoric times. This might have happened, but she puts no qualifiers in her writing. This is one of the biggest weaknesses of the work; fortunately, it gets better once she gets into historical times, though she is perhaps somewhat more ready to report female-friendly societies in ancient times than the evidence supports. Other than that, a good source for anyone interested in the female contribution to science.… (meer)