On this edition of StudioTulsa, we speak by phone with the novelist and writing instructor Eileen Pollack, whose books include the novels "Breaking and Entering" and "Paradise, New York," as well as two collections of short fiction and two creative-nonfiction textbooks. Her newest book is a memoir called "The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys' Club," and it looks back on her challenging experiences as a young woman majoring in physics at Yale in the 1970s while also highlighting various issues that still plague women in science across the nation today. As was noted of this work by a critic for Booklist: "[This] memoir rings authentic, its lessons essential. A bitter pill to swallow but a vital addition to the important and frustratingly ongoing discussion about gender equity." And further, from The Washington Post: "Offering an engrossing look at the barriers still facing women in science...Pollack draws attention to this important and vexing problem with a personal narrative, beautifully written and full of important insights on the changes needed to make those barriers crumble.... Any young woman or man on the way to college to major in science will find great lessons in this book." Also on today's show, our commentator Connie Cronley is remembering a particularly wonderful visit to the nearby Tallgrass Prairie Preserve back in June.
"The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys' Club"
