My Remarkable Journey
A Memoir
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The remarkable woman at heart of the smash New York Times bestseller and Oscar-winning film Hidden Figures tells the full story of her life, including what it took to work at NASA, help land the first man on the moon, and live through a century of turmoil and change.
In 2015, at the age of 97, Katherine Johnson became a global celebrity. President Barack Obama awarded her the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom—the nation’s highest civilian honor—for her pioneering work as a mathematician on NASA’s first flights into space. Her contributions to America’s space program were celebrated in a blockbuster and Academy-award nominated movie.
In this memoir, Katherine shares her personal journey from child prodigy in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia to NASA human computer. In her life after retirement, she served as a beacon of light for her family and community alike. Her story is centered around the basic tenets of her life—no one is better than you, education is paramount, and asking questions can break barriers. The memoir captures the many facets of this unique woman: the curious “daddy’s girl,” pioneering professional, and sage elder.
This multidimensional portrait is also the record of a century of racial history that reveals the influential role educators at segregated schools and Historically Black Colleges and Universities played in nurturing the dreams of trailblazers like Katherine. The author pays homage to her mentor—the African American professor who inspired her to become a research mathematician despite having his own dream crushed by racism.
Infused with the uplifting wisdom of a woman who handled great fame with genuine humility and great tragedy with enduring hope, My Remarkable Journey ultimately brings into focus a determined woman who navigated tough racial terrain with soft-spoken grace—and the unrelenting grit required to make history and inspire future generations.
Customer Reviews
Great read!
I love the story of Katherine Johnson. It is the story of ordinary people who grow up to do extraordinary things in science and engineering yet they stay humble. This book was more going into the life of Katherine, what inspired to become a research mathematician. You see she is from the south and while there was segregation and tension with racial protests, Katherine was raised with grace to believe she can contribute to society and is as good as everyone. From her teacher mentors who propelled her to have a vision beyond school for her skills in math, to her guts to ask to be in the same room as male engineers in NASA, she has broken barriers and made her mark for women and people of color. From this book you get to see this simple woman who accomplished so many things such as calculating the trajectory of human orbiting around the earth to how to put a man on the moon and return him back on earth safely, she loves her family and her work. She lived to be 101 years old and has witnessed many advancements in the human race. I enjoyed this book because she encourages everyone to love maths and STEM fields.