She's Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff [Paperback]

Annalee Newitz (Editor), Charlie Anders (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 2006

She’s Such a Geek is a groundbreaking 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This jubilant if uneven anthology of 24 essays spotlights women who write comic books for a living, get caught up in their favorite role-playing games and win "sexiest geek alive" contests by sporting a corset made out of circuit boards. Though editors Newitz (Pretend We're Dead) and Anders (Choir Boy) celebrate women's technical accomplishments and nerdy hobbies, several contributors also discuss their encounters with sexist discrimination. Programmer Kory Wells remembers the professor who complimented her skills by saying she was "really, really good, for a girl," while Mara Poulsen recalls programming videogames for a company whose female characters were ridiculously underdressed. Ranging from engineers and biophysicists to a high school student, the irrepressible contributors write with varying levels of eloquence, but their passions run equally high, whether they're portraying a Harry Potter character in an online community or gaining early acceptance at MIT. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (November 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580051901
• ISBN-13: 978-1580051903
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #832,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Insight January 20, 2007

By Katie

Format:Paperback

The book offers anecdotes from a variety of "geek" women, giving very good insight into what it means to be both a geek and a girl. This is a fantastic read for any woman in science. Most of the essays were funny/inspiring, though a few were less so ("The Hacker's Guide..." was one-dimensional, "I am Wonk..." seemed forced and didn't have much to do with the geek experience).

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Copy For Every Young Woman In The English-Speaking West May 17, 2007

By CJ

Format:Paperback

If I were rich, I'd thought my only book project would be to send a certain book or two to every legislator and department head in my country (the United States).

After reading parts of this book, though, I'm updating that: I would send 10-30 copies of this book (depending on department size) to every science department, every math department, every computer department, every business department, every women's studies department, and every library on every campus mentioned in this book...and as many more campuses as I can think of.

I'd ask professors to set them out in the coffee room where the department's books are stored saying, "Borrow one!" and let the bright yellow cover entice students and faculty alike.

Women and men, boys and girls alike should read these stories. What perfect descriptions they are of what life is like for the young geek whose sex is "female" and what perfect descriptions they are of what that does and can mean later in life.

I suppose I'd also send 10 copies to major campuses' and companies' IT departments and to big research companies.

This book is the perfect book--so captivating--for men to walk a mile in women's shoes (especially geeky men to walk a mile in geeky women's shoes) and the perfect book for girls to walk a mile in older women's shoes and take the precautions necessary to stay a geek for life--rather than be a dropout--if they think they're going to want to.

I would also send a chopped-up version to every middle school in the country, if I really had a lot of money.

(I wouldn't bowlderize it of all stories that mention how various female geeks handled their developing sexuality and lust given their social circumstances of being a member of the "sex class" (female) at the same time as they were a member of the "asexual class" (geek). Those are CRITICAL for middle schoolers to read so they know how to be virgins until marriage if they want to or sex-having-but-never-coerced-or-raped people if they want to--essentially, so they know how to understand what THEY want, despite what social messages tell them! Nevertheless, some chapters are more "high school" or "college," depending on the sexual maturity and interest of the kid.)

Boy, could my high school years have been splendid if I'd had a little time to mull on the ideas presented in this book since middle school.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended. July 8, 2007

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Paperback

Edited by syndicated technology columnist Annalee Newitz and award-winning author Charles Anders, She's Such a Geek!: Women Write About Science, Technology & Other Nerdy Stuff is an anthology of writings by stereotype-defying women who love science, computers, gadgets, genomics, video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and other "nerdy" pastimes. From geekdom in a lab or on the job to a computer scientist member of a video game creation team questioning the purpose perhaps even the morality of topless-girl-on-bikes game (called "BMX XXX") she was working on, to a biologist's view of the dating world, She's Such a Geek! is a one-of-a-kind tour of techno-savvy career culture and popular culture from the oft-overlooked feminine perspective. "During my first year of graduate school, three female classmates who frequented the clubs of Boston hit a serious snag in their search for boyfriends. Time after time, guys approached them - only to walk away the minute the women mentioned their occupation. So my friends started lying. They claimed to be flight attendants, yoga instructors, or kindergarten teachers. And the dating pool magically widened." Highly recommended.