Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History
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Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Sam Maggs (Author), Jodelle Ferland (Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 189 ratings
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A fun and feminist look at forgotten women in science, technology, and beyond, from the best-selling author of The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy

You may think you know women's history pretty well. But have you ever heard of:

  • Alice Ball, the chemist who developed an effective treatment for leprosy - only to have the credit taken by a man?
  • Mary Sherman Morgan, the rocket scientist whose liquid fuel compounds blasted the first US satellite into orbit?
  • Huang Daopo, the inventor whose weaving technology revolutionized textile production in China centuries before the cotton gin?

Smart women have always been able to achieve amazing things, even when the odds were stacked against them. In Wonder Women, author Sam Maggs tells the stories of the brilliant, brainy, and totally rad women in history who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, adventurers, and inventors. Also features interviews with real-life women in STEM careers, an extensive bibliography, and a guide to women-centric science and technology organizations - all to show the many ways the geeky girls of today can help to build the future.

Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    6 hours and 34 minutes
  2. Author
    Sam Maggs
  3. Narrator
    Jodelle Ferland
  4. Audible release date
    October 18, 2016
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B01M20WMDA
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
Next page

Product details

Listening Length 6 hours and 34 minutes
Author Sam Maggs
Narrator Jodelle Ferland
Audible.com Release Date October 18, 2016
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B01M20WMDA
Best Sellers Rank #390,350 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#403 in Women History
#619 in History of Science
#2,803 in World History (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
189 global ratings
Beautiful hardcover book with stories of diverse women from all time periods
5 Stars
Beautiful hardcover book with stories of diverse women from all time periods
There are more than 25 women in this book, and I promise you won't know all of them!This book has 25 multi-page introductions of 25 women in science, engineering, medicine, espionage, and exploration, including well known names like Elizabeth Blackwell and Ada Lovelace, as well as less known women like Wang Zhenyi and Ynes Mexia. Each chapter also has shorter blurbs about 5-10 other women in the same field as the rest featured in the chapter. Additionally, there is an interview with modern women in each field included at the end of each chapter, so that there are at least 60 women's stories included, from all walks of life, time periods, countries, and sexualities. Obviously this book is more of an introduction to each woman featured, not an in-depth exploration of her life, but it is an excellent starting place for anyone interested in learning about women who have been excluded from history books in schools.The book itself is a beautiful hardcover, excellent travel sized, without being pocket sized, with colored chapter headings, and doodles of each of the 25 featured women. The book jacket is full color, front and back, and the book underneath is a yellow matte cover with simple doodles on the front and back, and the title printed in large, easy to read font on the spine. The writing is witty and fun, easy to understand, and encourages girls to be the next great sceintist, engineer, adventurer, spy or medical professional.This would be an excellent book for women (or men) of any age, either as a book for a mother and daughter to read together, a graduation or birthday gift, or something to read in short bursts during me-time.
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Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great gift for young women
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2024
Verified Purchase
I purchased this book for Christmas gifts for my nieces to open their eyes to how women have had to fight for recognition for their achievements.
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Marilyn S. Stallard
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonder Women is a good start ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2018
Verified Purchase
The book contained a lot of pieces on women through the ages with a spectrum of talents; but the pieces weren't very meaty. It would do well for a preteen to show her just how many marvelous, intelligent, courageous women there have been throughout history whose talents ranged from poetess to astronomer, mathematician to chemist, writer to artist, barn-stormng pilot to astronaut to deep sea diver. If those snippets of information were meant to whet the appetite of girls to encourage them to research more deeply into the women who interested them, then the book met its goal.
6 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVE this book
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2018
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I just purchased this yesterday and am just getting into it but I had to stop and write a review. I LOVE this book! Since March is Women's Herstory Month, I thought it would be fun to learn about women I hadn't heard of. The authors commentary as the stories unfold makes me feel like I am having a conversation with a friend and learning something in the process. I had heard of a few of the women featured in the book but not many of them. If you are like me, you might be angry over the way these amazing women were treated; having their research co-opted by others, being allowed to work but in substandard conditions and sometimes without pay! But these are stories about women who matter; who made a difference despite the obstacles placed before them. People need to hear about these women...
8 people found this helpful
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Becca80588
3.0 out of 5 stars The text is a bit dense but information is nice.
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2017
Verified Purchase
Bought this for my 10 and 11 year old granddaughters. The text is a bit dense but information is nice.
3 people found this helpful
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Momasaurus
5.0 out of 5 stars Girl Power
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2017
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I literally shed tears reading this book. These women are so amazing and inspirational! I was disappointed I hadn't heard of most of them or their accomplishments as history has done a good job of burying their contributions. Luckily, with people sharing such stories, like author Sam Maggs, this information won't stay hidden for long! -Great read!!!
5 people found this helpful
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Pebble
2.0 out of 5 stars Failed Presentation for a Great Idea
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2017
Verified Purchase
I bought this book for my eleven and eight-year-old cousins and I'm grateful that I read it before I gave it to them. I will be returning the book instead.

First off: this book is NOT for children! The content is appropriate for teenagers and adults. The cover and general design gives the impression that it is a storybook for kids, but it is not. Much of the language is scrubbed, as there is a lot "dang" and "heck" that shows up, however not all the language I would keep from kids was cleaned up. Amalie Emmy Noether is referred to as a "BAMF". The content itself, not only word choice, is not for kids. You can read about Ogino Ginko's gonorrhea, Andandi Joshi's child marriage, Marie Equi providing abortions, Sarah Emma dragging another woman by the wrist while on horseback... etc. There is information about adultery, virginity, and drunken partying that is just not for kids.

Secondly, the book feels poorly edited. Much of it reads like a sloppy summary of Wikipedia pages with sarcastic humor awkwardly shoved in. It might work well as a speech, and if the sprawling sentences were untangled, it would probably make for a great series of blog posts. This paragraph is an example of how clunky much of the writing is:
"Zhenyi was well-off (a situation that helps just about everyone in every era), but the Wang family was in decline. Her grandfather was a former governor, and the family home near present-day Nanjing, in eastern China, housed his epic library of over seventy-five bookshelves (Hogwarts-size for the Qing dynasty). Growing up, Zhenyi took it upon herself to read her way through her grandfather's entire collection, and somehow she also managed to find time to study equestrian arts and archery with the wife of a Mongolian general (because apparently being a self-taught genius at math and science just wasn't enough). Zhenyi knew she was awesome, too. In one of her well-regarded poems, she writes that her ambition was "to a kind even stronger than a man's" and that she was often "reluctant to ride a horse with make-up" (totally understandable since eyeliner back then was probably not smudge-proof)."

The story-telling is not great. Extraneous details show up and yet the narrative jumps around important information. There are few pictures, so nothing redeems this problem.

I LOVE the concept. I really wanted to love this book. The basic work is great - there is a wide variety of women from all over the world, and I learned about many of them for the first time. There is lesbian and trans representation. We need this book - I needed this book when I was a little girl. But the execution is awful. Maggs, did you have an editor? Fire them.
27 people found this helpful
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Yoga MamaLV
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring Book About Amazing Women-Great Gift for Young Girls
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2017
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such a great, inspiring book! My daughter LOVES it!!! So happy to share with her these stories of Amazing Women! I am also reading it and s]discovering s a few women I didn't know about!
7 people found this helpful
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Sharon S. Stewart
1.0 out of 5 stars wanted it for my 13 w/o granddaughter but so glad I read it first...then deleted it!
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2018
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Hated the snarky comments by the author. These women didn't need the snide asides.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ati D. Berman
5.0 out of 5 stars Buena compra
Reviewed in Mexico on January 18, 2019
Verified Purchase
Una edición muy bonita, el papel es muy bueno y los colores muy lindos.
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P. Keeling
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonder Women Unite!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2016
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Wow, very in-depth and far reaching piece of work. Got this to inspire my daughters... a way to look beyond the colour pink and seek out some new heros. Great writing and useful links to other inspiring websites, etc. Excellent.
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Westwind
4.0 out of 5 stars Encouraging read for girls and young women
Reviewed in Australia on October 23, 2018
Verified Purchase
I bought this book as a present for my wife, who is actively engaged in women's career circles. It was really hard to find a book that covers more than just the "usual suspects" (Curie, Eahrhart, etc.) - but this book introduces leagues of inspiring women I had never heard of before!

Each woman is covered in a short portrait of just a few pages and I found the writing light and engaging. My wife felt it to be a little too light - borderline shallow, which is why I give it 4 stars (as said, it was a present so I want to reflect her perception).

I think it's fair to say that the style of the book directs it more towards a younger audience. It might lack a bit of depth and detail for a more mature audience.
Still, I personally found it well researched and a great source of inspiration! There should be more books that showcase stories of brave, smart and visionary real-life women.
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Detour
5.0 out of 5 stars Secret identities of these Wonder Women are finally revealed!
Reviewed in Canada on October 17, 2016
Verified Purchase
I'll start my review as many others have, by admitting my pathetic knowledge of these fine ladies prior to reading this book.

Of the 25 women granted extensive profiles, I had heard of exactly zero of them.

And of the additional ladies listed within each section, I was only familiar with Marie Curie, Josephine Baker, Hedy Lamarr and Amelia Earhart.

Totally unacceptable, especially for a history fan like myself. I am ashamed.

As for the book, Sam Maggs has done a wonderful job introducing these Wonder Women to the uninitiated. The writing is breezy and humorous, making this an accessible introduction into the "history books". But don't let the tone fool you, the research has obviously been extensive and the facts detailed.

And I can't leave out the beautiful illustrations by Sophia Foster-Dimino that really accentuate the book nicely.

The only quibble I have, and it's a minor one, is Maggs' occasional reference to things like "Game of Thrones" that may date the book. Again, minor, and certainly does not detract from the importance of this book. I know I will be purchasing several more copies, for my daughter and nieces, inspiring stuff.

This book should be required reading in grade school, for both genders.

Highly recommended.
4 people found this helpful
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RA Lavoie
4.0 out of 5 stars interesting, discovered many women I did not know.
Reviewed in Canada on June 23, 2017
Verified Purchase
interesting,discovered many women I did not know.
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