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Super serious question. Of the 278 comments that have been posted to this thread in the last 8 hours, has anyone suggested a single female author? I looked for
by binaryorganic 6y ago
Super serious question. Of the 278 comments that have been posted to this thread in the last 8 hours, has anyone suggested a single female author? I looked for a while and saw exactly zero. Isn’t that kind of notable?
- jgwil2 6y agoCracking the Coding Interview off the top of my head.
- arolihas 6y agoDo you know of any mind bending books by women?
- bear8642 6y agoPat Cadigan's book Fools has some truly bending sections
- gen220 6y agoI don't have an answer, other than the observation that women, as a class, were generally excluded from authorship in most cultures, with rare exceptions, until relatively recently. However, there are some "popular" examples. Jane Austen, Sylvia Plath, Kate Chopin (literature), Rachel Carson, Ayn Rand, Annie Dillard, Joan Didion (nonfiction). They aren't as fashionable today as they were in earlier generations, but that's fashion. For me, Svetlana Alexievich (born 1948, in modern Ukraine) has been a revelation. I haven't read all of her works yet, but they're on my lists. I can give a strong firsthand recommendation for The Unwomanly Face of War (which recently got a P&V translation: https://www.amazon.com/Unwomanly-Face-War-History-Women/dp/0399588728 https://www.amazon.com/Unwomanly-Face-War-History-Women/dp/0...). Her work incidentally illuminates how we systematically lack certain accounts of history. The implication is that we miss pretty much everything "important", when we read history through the traditional lenses of the armed conflict and politics. The literary motif of giving voice to the politically voiceless is an everpresent theme in Russian literature (going back through Turgenev's treatment of serfs), and in the late 20th century it was brought to nonfiction, through Solzhenitsyn and Alexievich. Statistically-speaking, most people do not spend their lives in the politburo, or in the general staff of the army, but those statistically-significant people do not usually write the history we read. It seems obvious in retrospect, but it's a revelation, and it tends to change one's perspective on the relative costs and utilities of war. As a culture, we're obsessed with the "individual", and we're typically obsessed with the "wrong" the individuals (i.e. the ones whose lives are exceedingly uncommon). I think her work should be required reading for those seeking to become public servants, whose personal lives are often significantly detached from the consequences of the decisions they make in their professional lives. I don't know if I would call it life-changing, but it's up there.
- bambataa 6y ago"The Handmaid's Tale" has an interesting epilogue that touches on this. It's in the style of a later academic lamenting how the narrator didn't say anything about the political power structures of Gilead when, of course, the whole narration had been about the personal power structures.
- gen220 6y agoAnother unsolicited recommendation in a similar vein: Edith Sheffer's "Burned Bridge" (https://www.amazon.com/Burned-Bridge-East-Germans-Curtain/dp/0199314616 https://www.amazon.com/Burned-Bridge-East-Germans-Curtain/dp...). It's similar in that it offers a somewhat unconventional lens to history, this time applied to the Cold War. As Americans, we often think of the East-West German divide in terms of Soviet and American interests, politicians, and international intrigue. Yet, for "normal" Germans living in otherwise "normal" towns, the arbitrary partitioning of their country along hastily-drawn lines was an event that had to be integrated into their daily lives. We often think of history in top-down ways (i.e. FDR and Stalin decided that X would happen, and so it did). This book really subverts that narrative, and instead presents a brilliantly-researched and significantly chaotic reality. You come away thinking that the iron curtain was not an inevitable thing, but rather the result of frequent misunderstandings and breakdowns in effective communication, and the inability of distanced leaders to assume good intent. For me, it changed my default perspective on how borders and bureaucratic systems work, and what role law and top-down decision making (good, bad, influential and negligible) has in everyday life, especially in moments of big change. It's tangentially relevant to the coronavirus, where big bureaucracies are trying to flex into everyday life. It gives you some intuition of where we should expect these efforts to succeed, and where we can expect it to fail.
- ivolimmen 6y agoThe Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do by Judith Rich Harris. Read this before getting kids. Awesome...
- james_s_tayler 6y agoHeard a famous ADHD researcher recommend both this and Steven Pinker's Blank Slate for helping parents digest the science on why they can't engineer outcomes for their kids. Gotta put both these on my list.
- camelCaseCamel 6y agoI thought sex was a social construct?
- rovolo 6y agoSocial constructs are real, but somewhat arbitrary. There's no genetic difference between Catholics and Protestants. If you were Catholic as a child, you could become Protestant as an adult. Religion is socially constructed, but its differences still matter to people. Someone could legitimately ask why there were no Catholic US presidents prior to JFK.
- Miraste 6y agoSomeone suggested Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, which is by Susan Cain. Your point stands, though. HN's userbase is massively male-a survey a few years ago put it at 94% [0]. This is presumably because the high-tech startup crowd has identical demographics. These books are mostly related to tech or business, so while the skew is notable, it's an artifact of the broader issue. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5520342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5520342
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoThat's a good book. That 'identical demographics' part is perhaps a tautology? They're mostly male, because they're mostly male? Of course we understand there are 1000 reasons for the disparity, discussed elsewhere.
- Miraste 6y agoI don't think it's a tautology to say HN's users are mostly male because the group it draws from is mostly male. There's room for competing theories like some quality unique to the website. To put my thought in bad ASCII flowchart form: Male tech startup people -> Male HN users -> Male-dominated interest areas -> Male author recommendations
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoAh! I see.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoIts hard. After decades of reading indiscriminately, I found I was reading almost purely male authors. Of course; there are so many in comparison. So I have a female-author reading list now.
- input_sh 6y agoSame thing here. Only 16% of the books I've read 2015-now were written by women. Needless to say, as soon as I've realized that, I've picked up a book written by a woman and prioritized a few of them in my to-read list. So far this year I'm 3/7, aiming for >50% this year.
- pftburger 6y agoOh man, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is AMAZING on so many levels. A common thread with these books seems to be exploring consciousness and definitions of self. As a bonus it does stuff I find more from women authors, like quietly question gender roles without making a scene about it, question slavery, ownership, etc. Similar a bit to the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells but on a whole other level. Its a wonderful trilogy of three books. Strongly recommend it. I can also recommend N.K. Jemisin, not really mind bending, but very odd Generally I dislike it when authors patronise me, banging my head against their genius, and I find women authors tend to do that less (Disclaimer to sensitive people : this is my personal opinion)
- gjstein 6y agoCan second both Ann Leckie (her new book "The Raven Tower" is also a great page-turner) and N.K. Jemisin (who did totally blow my mind with her Broken Earth Trilogy). Ursula K. Le Guin also appears down below; The Left Hand of Darkness was a profound read.
- some-username 6y agoAlso from Ursula K. Le Guin: The Dispossessed. Not mind bending for someone who spent some time trying to imagine a anarchist society (but still quite enriching), but maybe for others.
- aerovistae 6y agoHated Ancillary Justice. Just found it boring. Well-trodden ground.
- breakattn 6y agoI concur with Ancillary Justice. I love the way that you have to work out what is happening through successive detail. Plenty of surprises. A genderless society is very hard to get one's mind around.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mattbk1 6y ago- "Weapons of Math Destruction" by Cathy O'Neil is a good one. - "Immersion" by Abbie Gascho Landis - "Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube" by Blair Braverman - "Sleeping Naked is Green" by Vanessa Farquharson - "There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather" by Linda Akeson McGurk
- izend 6y agoI really enjoyed the Masters of Roman series by Colleen McCullough, she brings color and life to the famous characters of Sulla, Gaius Marius and Caesar.
- enumjorge 6y agoDon’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor. While a lot of people treat it as a dog training book, her work in behavioral psychology and training has much broader applications. It can really change the way you approach interpersonal relationships.
- fiftyfifty 6y agoGreat mention, if you work with animals at all it is a mandatory read.
- meristem 6y agoI trained with her team-- successful with cats, will try with raptors next.
- astrostl 6y agoCame here just to post this one. Life-changing book, esp. on parenting.
- thr0w__4w4y 6y agoLooks like Ayn Rand was listed almost an hour ago (relative to your post). There may be others, that was the first that I searched for, figuring it would show up, and yep...
- thr0w__4w4y 6y agoAnd as a more useful follow-up, I'll jump in and suggest Annie Duke's "Thinking In Bets" (subtitle: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts)
- therealdrag0 6y agoGood question. I can think of a number of female authors who's work I loved, but none that seem to match OPs question.
- bear8642 6y agoFeel Pat Cadigan's work might be a candidate, but agree
- crimsonalucard 6y agoEither everyone on HN is a sexist, or a less reasonable explanation: women are just not interested in writing books on mind bending concepts. Obviously, everyone here is a sexist. Wake up people! Stop oppressing women! There was an Ask HN topic on finding technical books on nursing and some idiot pointed out to me that all the authors were women. He said as if people were being sexist. Obviously there aren't as many men in nursing because they are less interested in nursing AND because culturally nursing has always been a female occupation. Stop making a big deal out of nothing. Sexism can only occur against women people! It does not exist for men!
- gitrog 6y agoIn the throes of your rant at someone making a perfectly accurate observation you seemed to have made a false dichotomy. The options aren't just that everyone on HN is sexist nor that women aren't interested in writing books on mind bending concepts, but another reason, as has been mentioned above, is that women for most of human history weren't allowed to write. From there it becomes rather obvious why there are less woman authors at all! Also, check out some of Ursula Le Guin's work if you are into sci-fi.
- crimsonalucard 6y ago>is that women for most of human history weren't allowed to write. Isn't this sexism? Read my argument again. I literally said that the reason why there are more men then women authors on mind bending concepts is because of Sexism. We are in total agreement. I know of Ursula K. Le guin. If you read her biography you'll read about all the hardships she had to go through to get her work published. As a woman her books were burned for not being about parenting or cooking. Left hand of darkness was especially heretical and many such books were burned in public book burnings back in the day. Just google "Ursula K. Le Guin Book burnings" and look at all the results on google. That's the extent of all the hardships she had to go through. Some people may tell you that nothing of the sort happened and that she won some kind of award for her book called a Hugo Award, but they would be lying sexists. There are less women authors than men authors because there is active suppression that has been going on since Ursula K. Le guin was born. We are NOT in disagreement here. The disparity has nothing to do with a general choice and disinterest in science fiction by women. Women have no choice in every matter where there is a disparity with men. Women and men are biologically equal in every possible measure. Any statistical difference is a form of inequality and sexism enforced by MEN.
- mtalantikite 6y agoI suggested Toni Morrison and held without a doubt that she was the greatest living writer until her passing last year. She'll likely always hold that top spot in my mind, no one can compare. Go read "Sula" or "Song of Solomon" or "Beloved" or "The Bluest Eye". Her work will make you a better human.
- pftburger 6y agoMorrison regularity brings me to tears. Go read or listen to her Nobel prize lecture. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1993/morrison/lecture/ https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1993/morrison/l...
- silveroriole 6y agoI guess I’ll add to the female authors being suggested under this comment. Wilding - Isabella Tree. Changed how I think about what nature needs, away from the simplistic “more forests! Less agriculture!” viewpoint. The Female Man - Joanna Russ. Forget all the ‘makeup is empowering!’ Twitter feminism. Russ has a different idea. “For years I have been saying Let me in, Love me, Approve me, Define me, Regulate me, Validate me, Support me. Now I say Move over. If we are all Mankind, it follows to my interested and righteous and right now very bright and beady little eyes, that I too am a Man and not at all a Woman... I think I am a Man; I think you had better call me a Man; I think you will write about me as a Man from now on and speak of me as a Man and employ me as a Man and recognize child-rearing as a Man's business; you will think of me as a Man and treat me as a Man” Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg (if we count Feinberg as, at least, a female-at-birth author). A complex exploration of what gender and transgenderism and sexuality mean to people depending on their class, subculture, etc. What should we call Jess? Trans, a man, a lesbian, non-binary, something else? I also want to say Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, but I can’t easily explain why.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- javajosh 6y agoIt's a matter of priority. Do you want your mind blown, period, or do you want it blown with [some set of constraints on how and by whom]? I'd say the first condition is hard enough. FWIW "A Room of One's Own" (Virginia Wolf) has stuck with me forever, as has "The Lathe of Heaven" (Ursula K. LeGuin)
- binaryorganic 6y agoThanks so much for (almost) all of these answers! I really appreciate getting substantive responses from y’all.
- danenania 6y agoOryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, and the rest of the Maddaddam Trilogy. I read it a few years ago, but still think about it all the time. The writing is vivid and visceral, and the characters have an emotional and spiritual depth that you almost never find in dystopian scifi. There are also some spooky parallels to what's happening now.
- chispamed 6y agoWhile it may not completely change your life, a book that definitely opens your eyes (probably more so if you're white and male) when it comes to mondern-day racism and just how biased our thinking really is is "Biased" by Jennifer L. Eberhardt. You ask how many of the authors listed here a women but one could just as easily ask how many of the authors listed here are black and I think the answer would be just as shocking.
- mam2 6y agoLol what's the percentage of girl reading HN you think ?
- GoodJokes 6y agoFemale authors aren't just for girls.
- GoodJokes 6y agoI try to say this every time on book recommendation posts. I always get flagged. I guess I am too mean about it. I just think most HN users don't even think about the need to actively seek out authors of different identities than their own. It has nothing to do with availability or enough female authors. That is such utter bs and lazy thinking.
- hopeandpride 6y agoPerhaps not "mind bending" but I Should Have Honor: A Memoir of Hope and Pride in Pakistan by Khalida Brohi definitely opened my eyes to a world I didn't realize existed. There's an interview with the author on NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/09/04/644498267/after-her-cousins-honor-killing-khalida-brohi-became-a-womens-rights-activist https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/09/04/6444982...
- ramblerman 6y agoHonest question. Why does it matter? We are looking for ideas to bend our mind. I'm happy to keep the authors gender, race, religion, or nationality out of that. The same applies for HN comments. Going through all 278 comments to find a female name is more notable to me.