Overall, what do you think of Her Hidden Genius? (No spoilers in this thread, please)

Overall, what do you think of Her Hidden Genius? (No spoilers in this thread, please)

She was definitely brilliant but it seems others where thinking along her lines as well.

She certainly was a brilliant and pushed herself to all ends to find out about DNA but she was determined to always go that extra mile and to be exact but then others wanted to be the one who found it but using her at the same time. I enjoyed the story as I have enjoyed all of Mare Benedict's books - I just had a hard time understanding all the scientific language but her story is one to certainly enjoy.

I love Marie Benedict's book because I love learning about strong Women who didn't get credit for their own achievements. This was another eye opener to me so I much enjoyed it. It wasn't my favorite of her books but it was an enjoyable read.

I have read all of Marie Benedict's books and love her theme of writing about largely unknown women who have accomplished great feats. Her Hidden Genius was not my favorite of her works simply because the scientific subject matter was less interesting to me that some of her other works. My absolute favorite was The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, closely followed by The Other Einstein, which although also about science and Math, has so much more about personal relationships than this current novel has.

When I read all the other Marie Benedict books, I was always familiar with the main character. That is not the case with this book. I learned much about a subject I had never thought about or had much interest to learn. Because of the unfamiliarity, it was harder for me to read than her others.

Elizabeth

I love science and I loved discovering Rosalind Franklin and the role she played in discovering DNA. Marie Benedict did a great job bringing to life Rosalind not just as a scientist but a woman living in post World War II Europe, a dedicated hiker, a woman of culture with a love for fashion and color; a multifaceted woman. She wasn’t a stereotype brilliant scientist wearing drab colors with no life outside of her science.
It was a great read given the times we currently live in with MRNA based vaccines. Can you imagine what Rosalind Franklin would have thought, if she could have known the effect her early discovery of DNA would actually impact on humanity today!

Marie Benedict's novel is a good intro to Rosalind, but I can think of other historical novelists who make their characters much more alive.

A long-ago microbiology teacher made reference to Franklin "laying the groundwork for the discovery of DNA" but didn't add anything else. I was amazed to learn that, in fact, Franklin the x-ray crystallography techniques that made further exploration of the structure of DNA possible. I think Benedict did a great job of making the science sufficiently understandable without bogging down in the details. Her development of Rosalind Franklin as a multi-faceted individual was terrific. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

I spent most of the book seething because of the injustice Franklin had to suffer. What would the world look like if women, and other minorities, were able to follow their dreams and live up to their potential! I hurt for her.
Having said that, I am so glad I read Her Hidden Genius. I knew nothing about Franklin before and I have just added two nonfiction books about her to my reading list.

Me, too. I added Walter Isaacson’s book, The Codebreaker…” to my list. Too many stories like this but I am grateful that we are learning more and more about them.

I enjoyed this book very much and learned a lot more about Franklin (I had already heard of her before reading). So glad that, for the most part, women are not subjected to such chauvinism in science today, although that existed up into the late 20th century.

That said, I have liked other Marie Benedict books better than this one, as I found it a bit dry, but still worth reading.

I have read a few of Marie Benedict's books and have enjoyed them. Easy to read, but have learned much from them. I didn't really enjoy this book. I found it to be a struggle. There was too much scientific detail for me and I had to stop reading and research the various terminology.
If you are a reader like me who tries to understand different scientific facts, cultures, foods, languages,etc while reading a book this may not be the book for you. I found it a bit too tedious to enjoy.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to read about an outstanding woman in science! I had not heard of Rosalind Franklin: what an amazing woman and researcher she was!

Her Hidden Genius was a great overall picture of Rosalind from her early career on. The reader gets to see her personal life and her professional life and how they clashed. We see her challenges and successes and how she arrived at both and with whom. There is a balance of settings, so we see the differences she dealt with in different countries and lab settings. I did not feel overwhelmed by the scientific terminology and lab work. The author was careful in repeating the tests and goals enough so that the reader could follow along and feel the tension.

The author made Rosalind unlikable in my opinion. She had trouble getting along with some people, particularly co-workers. Also, the word cherchers was used too many times. I wonder about the romantic connection between Rosalind and Monsiier Mering. Did this really happen, or was it added to make the story a bit spicier?

I am a fan of Benedict's book and really appreciate how she brings remarkable, yet often not celebrated women to our attention. This novel was a bit dull and repetitive for me - especially when Rosalind returns to England, it's basically - make progress with her research, have to worry about being betrayed, go climbing, defend herself to her parents, etc. It was very hard for me to follow the science, which I began to skim. Rosalind just didn't feel vibrant enough to me.

I especially enjoy historical fiction and have always admired Marie Benedict for her careful research and historical facts. This book is important as an example of a woman who fought for her place in science and was an example of devotion to her goals in spite of the hardships of loneliness, alienation, being demeaned by the men who surrounded her and finally, illness caused by her profession. Rosalind Franklin is an important example of the strength of women in science.

I have not yet finished the book and am having a hard time with it. Somehow the characters seem really one dimensional--I don't feel any life in them. I'm disappointed because the topic is one, especially with my own background in science, often the only woman in the department, that very much interests me. It just is not ringing true for me

I really appreciated learning about Rosalind Franklin and I tip my hat off to Marie Benedict for bringing her work to life. Admittedly, some of the scientific terminology was lost on me, but I didn't have a hard time reading the book because of that. I just recently finished "The Personal Librarian" and although I liked the book, for some reason I found "Her Hidden Genius" easier to read. There was a real warmth to it.

It's just too bad that society frowned upon the idea of a woman's academic life or professional life not co-existing with marriage. I know Marie Benedict believed that and refused to give it much thought or question it. She thought about it, but did a lot of rationalizing about her belief that this was true.

Never having read any books by Marie Benedict I was unable to compare this book to her others. However I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked the way she showed the struggle of a powerful woman and how much she accomplished.

I greatly enjoyed this book. Marie Benedict is one of my favorite authors. She certainly brought Rosalind Franklin to life for me. Have already shared this Title with many others, hope they read it.

I liked the book and gave it 5 stars on Good Reads and B&N. I enjoy this author as she writes about strong women. I learned about the science of DNA. I will have this book for book club next month.

I have previously read two biographies of Rosalind Franklin, so I didn’t really learn anything new in that sense. What I appreciated was the use of a first person narrator to try to get inside Franklin’s head. I find it interesting that Benedict relied only on Sayre’s biography. She doesn’t mention Maddox’s biography in her author’s note.

I have a scientific background and so I found the book interesting and informative. I knew about Watson and Crick but had no idea Rosalind Franklin was intimately involved in the discovery of DNA. Thanks to the author, Marie Benedict, for bringing this brilliant researcher’s story to light. I have read all of Benedict’s books and agree that the scientific information in this book may not be to everyone’s interest.

In Her Hidden Genius, Marie Benedict has once again done a masterful job in shining the spotlight on a little-known but critically important woman in our history. Not only was Rosalind Franklin’s contribution to the discovery of DNA immeasurable, but her legacy as a strong woman with the skill, intelligence and determination to continue her work despite the odds against her in the largely male scientific community makes her a role model for all. Her Hidden Genius is thoughtful, well-researched and I recommend the book for both history and historical fiction buffs.

Marie Benedict has given readers the opportunity to learn about women who made immeasurable contributions and discoveries x that would otherwise have gone unknown.
I have read The Personal Librarian and of the two books I personally felt that The Personal Librarian is a fuller narrative.

Overall, I liked the book. I had not previously heard of Rosalind Franklin, so reading this book expanded my knowledge of history and of strong women. I really enjoyed the fact that Rosalind was presented as a multifaceted person, and not just a boring scientist; as a technical person, myself, I don't like when people assume that being scientific and being fashionable are a dichotomy that doesn't exist. I've read several Marie Benedict books, and I enjoyed this one better than The Personal Librarian because I felt that its constant complaining about being a minority woman was monotonous and convenient. However, I liked The Other Einstein better than Her Hidden Genius because the central character was better developed and felt more inspiring.

I really enjoyed Hidden Genius. I knew nothing about Rosalind Franklin. I love learning about women who have succeeded in a mans world. I thought it was well researched and written. I felt she captured the tone of the time and the character.

I was fascinated by this book..as I had never heard of Rosalind Franklin and when I asked my physician husband about her, he hadn't either. What I like about most of Marie Benedict's work is her intense research and she certainly has done that here. She has now introduced us to one of the hidden women behind today's science. I never put one of her books down without reading her author notes.

I just carefully read through all of the many comments readers have written. It was so interesting to see the commonalities in the reactions to this book. I admire Marie Benedict's passion for writing the unknown stories of women who have made such amazing contributions to art, science, politics and other important areas that have impacted all of us. Every one of her deeply researched books has made me smarter and prouder because of what I learn about these incredible women who faced high walls and many roadblocks and yet...they Persisted. I understand that the author felt the need to clearly explain what Dr. Franklin was discovering but I think her editors should have condensed the scientific information passages. Most readers probably skimmed right over those passages, that felt like a college science textbook, in order to get back to her fascinating life story. I also wanted to spend more time with Rosalind. She was amazing. The book format of short chapters that jumped months and years ahead did not work successfully for me. It felt rushed. The character development and plot took a backseat to the enormous amount of scientific information. However, I am so glad I spent this time reading about Rosalind Franklin. This is a book that I think book clubs would find lots of ways to unpack.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I did know a little about Watson and Crick, but had never heard of Rosalind. The science was interesting without being so scientific a lay person couldn't understand it. The book is also interesting in its take on how different people even in the scientific community do science differently. I would like to read more about this remarkable woman.

I had never heard of Rosalind Franklin and knew very little about the discovery of DNA. Learning about this pioneering woman and her work was fascinating. As a non-scientist, the details of the science involved in her work were somewhat difficult to understand. Kudos to the author for bringing Dr. Franklin and her work to life in Her Hidden Genius.