What readers think of Lessons in Chemistry, plus links to write your own review.

This book was such a fun read. Set in the 60's when women were to stay home and raise babies. Elizabeth did everything her way despite being under the thumb of men who made all the rules. She meets Calvin who accepts her for who she is, a chemist. I kept thinking of all the 60's sitcoms and the stereotype roles. I cheered for Elizabeth the whole way.

A friend told me to read this book because you see I am a scientist......and a successful one. Is science a male dominated field? Most certainly it is. Is there sexual harassment on the way up and in the workplace? Yes of course there is as in most fields. Do other scientists take credit for the work of others? Sometimes. Does this book reliably portray the difficulties of women training in science. Well maybe in 1952. I was only 3 then.

What did I really think? It was boring. I found the character to be unlike any other women scientist I have ever met. She takes "poor me" to a new standard. When in training you are learning to be a scientist. You learn to question your bias and hypotheses and you climb the ladder. There are hurdles to climb and then you get a doctorate and then you train more as a postdoc. As one reviewer said.....she should have been fired in the first chapter....I agree.

What did I like …cooking is a science! That is about it. I honestly do not know why this is a popular book. To learn that it is to be a movie made me shudder. Someone is making a lot of money and I hope will donate some of it to the real scientists who actually have one foot in reality.

I too was at the time in question a good looking science major getting too much attention of the wrong kind from men, and my career was thereby derailed from biology to law. (I was he winner.) To me this book while striving to be "cute" does not capture the time and there was no sense of place. To me this book is not satire, or if it is satire, it is satire failed. Satire needs to be timely comment, not rehashing the woes o 60 years ago. PS I handled all of my problems without ever stabbing anyone with a pencil or any other sharp object.