ASU Book Group: 'A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman' by Lindy Elkins-Tanton

The ASU Book Group's April 2023 reading selection is "A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman” by Lindy Elkins-Tanton. The book group is open to all in the ASU community and meets monthly from noon–1 p.m. with two different options for attendance: either in-person at the Piper Writers House or virtually on Zoom (registration required for online attendance). In-person attendees are invited to join the author for lunch after at the University Club, no-host.
Haven't read the book? Come anyway! Authors are always present.
Synopsis:
Amid a childhood of terrible trauma, Lindy Elkins-Tanton fell in love with science as a means of healing and consolation. But still she wondered, was forced to wonder: as a woman, was science “for her”? In answering that question, she takes us from the wilds of the Siberian tundra to the furthest reaches of outer space, from the Mayo Clinic, where Elkins-Tanton battled ovarian cancer while writing the Psyche proposal, to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where her team brought that proposal to life.
The book is available on amazon.com or from local bookstores.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton is principal investigator of NASA’s $800 million Psyche mission, and the second woman ever to be awarded a major NASA space exploration contract. She is a Foundation and Regents Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU.
About the book group:
The ASU Book Group meetings and selections for 2022-2023 are:
- Sep. 28: "Now in Color" by Jacqueline Balderrama
- Oct. 26: “Manifesting Justice" by Valena Beety
- Nov. 30: “Dear Diaspora” by Susan Nguyen
- [NEW DATE] Dec. 21: “To Live and Die in El Valle” by Oscar Mancinas
- Jan. 25: “Fat in Four Cultures” by Cindi SturtzSreetharan, Alexandra Brewis, and Amber Wutich
- Feb. 22: “Desert Divide” by Kelli Donley
- Mar. 29: “Animal Revolution” by Ron Broglio [Note change from 4/26]
- Apr. 26: "A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman” by Lindy Elkins-Tanton [Note change from 3/29]
The ASU Book Group is sponsored as a community outreach initiative by the Department of English and organized in partnership with the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.