Female innovators who changed our world by Emma Shimizu

Female innovators who changed our world by Emma Shimizu is a good book, I enjoyed reading it. It is about women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). There are 46 women presented, mainly from US, but there are some Brits, Europeans, and a few from other parts of the world. I think it offers a good starting point for anyone who wants to read more on women innovators. Because of her heritage, half-Japanese, half-British, she included a handful of women who were not from the Western world, in her view, from China, India, and Japan.

While I think the book is well worth reading, I gave it 4 stars for some reasons. Firstly, she included psychology, which is not a STEM subject. I loved reading about Anna Freud and she was an innovator in her field, but it’s not STEM. Secondly, her political biases are so obvious, something that always annoys me in books.
Thirdly, she marked Marie Curie as French?! Although in her presentation she mentions that she was born in Poland. Which brings me to the last remark, she wanted to show a non-western-centric view, but ends up doing just that. There are no women from the Baltics or Balkans. Mostly are UK/US based. The only Eastern woman is Curie, which everybody knows about anyway, so a mention might have been enough, and presenting another Eastern European woman would have been better. I only pointed this out because she said she wants to focus on the wider world and ignored the parts that are usually ignored.

As the criticism makes the most part of this review, I should re-state that the book is really interesting and I read about women I didn’t know about. She covers a wide period, not only the contemporary period, and that’s great. I would definitely recommend the book, so do check it out if you fancy reading on fascinating women who, sometimes, went against the norms.

Female innovators who changed our world by Emma Shimizu

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My rating: 4/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Pen and Sword
Year it was published: 2022
Format: Hardcover
Genre(s): History
Pages: 168

About the author: Emma Shimizu is a half-Japanese, half-British engineer who has had a passion for improving lives and sharing her love of STEM since her teenage years. She studied Materials Science and Engineering at university, specialising in tissue engineering and materials used in healthcare. Emma has been an active STEM ambassador for several years, and especially enjoys working with schools to introduce how science and engineering is used to shape our day-to-day lives. Emma currently works for a paediatric medical device manufacturer, liaising with different departments to plan and develop new products. Having a keen interest in promoting partnerships between industry and academia, Emma has been honoured to be a guest speaker for a university bioengineering module and take part in industrial liaison. She lives in Sheffield with her husband who is also an engineer, and cat Elsa who is not.
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