A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman: A Memoir

A mid 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 this question, she takes us from the wilds of the Siberian tundra to the farthest reaches of our outer space, form the Mayo Clinic, where Ekins-Tanton battled ovarian cancer, to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

A Portrait of the scientist as a Young Woman is a beautifully constructed memoir that explores how a philosophy of life can be built from the tools of scientific inquiry. It teaches us how to approach difficult problems by asking the right questions and truly listening to the answers—and how we may find meaning through exploring the wonders of the universe around us.