Hypatia's Heritage (Beacon Paperback) [Paperback]

Margaret Alic (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807067318 | ISBN-13: 978-0807067314 | Publication Date: November 15, 1986

A History of Women in Science from Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (November 15, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807067318
• ISBN-13: 978-0807067314
• Product Dimensions: 0.2 x 5.5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #882,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Woman Scientist's Point of View, August 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Hypatias Heritage (Paperback)

If you are a woman with any interest at all in the sciences (mathematics and philosophy included), then please read this book. I expected a strongly feministic "the man is holding me down" revision of history. I found a well-balanced and well-documented account of the content and context of the science and scientific lives of women who history has forgotten. I am a 36 year old female scientist, who for the first time has found a source of inspirational female role models in this book. Look, things weren't so good in the past for women. But let's not remain in denial and let's not rewrite the past. Let's read even-handed historical accounts, such as the one presented in this book, and then let's make healthy, well-balanced decisions about how society should best move forward.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, March 22, 2005

By 

NS "pinkpanther" (WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hypatia's Heritage (Beacon Paperback) (Paperback)

The author has put together a comprehensive review of women, more or less lost from history, who participated in the sciences. The book is loosely structured around time periods, covering antiquity through the 18th century. The book contains many references and she clearly states her sources. Some of the more questionable (rabbinical tradition) were probably better left out. In any case, since she states the source, the reader can decide for herself.

9 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A pretty crummy book ...., December 7, 2000

By 

emoryboy "forensicman" (Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hypatias Heritage (Paperback)

I rated this book at one star only because amazon.com doesn't allow a reviewer the option of zero stars. The author of this book is a biochemist -- not a trained historian -- and her amateurism certainly shows, particulary in the early chapters where a competent historian would be careful in the assessment of the historicity of sources. So Alic retails a tradition -- presented as though it has a factual basis -- about Moses and his wife operating a medical school in Egypt. Never mind that there is virtually no evidence independent of the Bible that Moses even existed. Perhaps needless to say that the Bible contains no mention of said medical school. Shortly thereafter readers are told that Cleopatra studied human anatomy and physiology by dissecting condemned prisoners alive. The source for this horror story turns out to be a rabbinical tradition -- scarcely an unbiased source when dealing with Greeks or Greek culture. The rest of the book is at best naive hagiography.