Lessons in Chemistry

It was surprisingly easy to find Lessons in Chemistry as an earbook on Borrowbox. It was named book of the year 2022 and adapted as a TV mini-series the next year: so I didn't expect it to be persistently available on Borrowbox. Eventually I downloaded and heard it through. Spoiler: it is not a chemistry textbook. In fact the overt chemistry in the book is kinda terrible - a mere dusting of needlessly obscure science-adjacent long words where any normal scientist would use plain English sodium chloride? salt! Trimethylxanthine? coffee!

But that's plenty okay because 'chemistry' does a lot of heavy lifting in the book at different levels of abstraction / metaphor. Cooking is Chemistry. Love is Chemistry. Rowing is Chemistry. Cynophilia is Chemistry. It's also okay because the author Bonnie Garmus was Arts Block at college and worked all her life in the media and doesn't apologize for not taking a degree in Chemistry in order to write a novel. Instead she bought a 1959 General Chemistry text on eBay and scraped that for $5 words. The novel also features a talking dog, so try to suspend belief in order to take on board the universals.

As reg'lar readers know I've written A Lot about women in science. The underlying theme in many of those short biogs is how so many of their careers are a daunting and depressing slog up Mount Impossible through the Vale of Misogyny. Perhaps the 1950/60s, when the novel is set, was the worst time to try launching a career in science as a woman. Before that, only the most ambitious, lucky, privileged and well-connected even tried. Afterwards, it got steadily easier as the dinosaurs died off and society became more willing to accept equality in the workplace. And believe me, I know we're not there yet 60 years later.

Lessons in Chemistry is heart-warming and funny and introduces a handful of not-all-men who support and encourage the Heroine Chemist in her quest for truth and recognition. Do not read the Spoiler synopsis in Wikipedia but rather snag the book on Borrowbox - I returned it a week ago. Okay this clip won't ruin everything.