Miss Leavitt's Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe (Great Discoveries Series) Book

Disappointing is probably the best word to choose for how I felt when reading this book. I am all for women in science, and even more for overlooked women to be recognized and learned about it; I was finding material for my daughters to learn about women like Henrietta Leavitt before this became so popular. But the writing wasn't anything spectacular--for a while I thought this might be three stars, but I just didn't like this much, so that would be dishonest.

That said, as Johnson admits, there is virtually nothing known about Leavitt--who she really was, what she thought, etc. There is no trove of letters, no diary or journal she left behind, very few photos. This book did have something do do with Leavitt and her discovery along with her other work, but much of it really isn't about her. Rather it is primarily about the changes and developments in astronomy in the first few decades of the twentieth century. At times felt like I read more about some of the men involved and all of their arguments than about Leavitt. True, the topic is interesting, but it's not what I was hoping for with this book.

I would have rather had an interestingly written book discussing women in astronomy where Leavitt and her important contributions comprised a solid chapter or two than to have her story stretched out well beyond what is known about her.