It can be super disheartening to look at how women have been diminished and mistreated throughout our history. But Janice Kaplan's book has a somewhat hopeful tone - she focuses on celebrating the many genius women who have accomplished incredible things (despite the numerous obstacles along their path).

Kaplan starts out with the question: "What makes a genius?" She concluded that geniuses are part talent and part celebrity. The reason so many women geniuses have gone ignored is because they lacked the celebrity or fame that would have allowed people to recognize their gifts. Kaplan uses tons of examples of these women, in every field ranging from the arts to science and tech. Many of these women never reached the same levels of success as their male counterparts, simply because of their gender.

I thought this book was so well-researched, and I gained a lot of insight from the studies that Kaplan included, especially for how the patriarchy and female subjugation is so embedded in our culture. I did feel like the book was a tad bit more engaging in the beginning, and some of the text towards the end felt repetitive. I think this might have been closer to five stars for me if a few chapters had been cut. But overall, I learned a lot about some amazing unsung heroes who should be much more well-known, and I feel inspired about doing what I can to raise up all female geniuses!

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it was just too dry for my taste. I don't often read nonfiction, but I was hoping for something to really make me interested, and that just didn't happen. Just not for me.

*Thank you @duttonbooks for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Review not posted to Amazon/Goodreads because less than 4 stars or DNF.*

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however it has been on my shelf for so long I opted to listen to the audiobook. Thank you to Dutton for providing me with an ARC, I'm sorry it took me so long read it.

The audiobook is narrated by the author and she does a wonderful job. This was well written and well researched. Given that Kaplan has experience as a reporter, producer, journalist, and writer it is no wonder that this was so well crafted and performed. While I don't agree with all of the points that she argues as to how we can make more women into geniuses, there is evidence to support that the women she interviewed became geniuses by doing those things she advocates for. They in fact followed those steps to get where they are today, and in talking with my own mentors and industry leaders they followed similar steps. It is unfortunate, but we shouldn't have to just work harder and put our heads down to get identified as smart and capable and advocate for change once we "make it". We don't ask our male counterparts to do anything different. I do agree that women who are supported and encouraged have better success in STEM fields or whatever they are interested in. There is vast evidence to show that stereotypes and bigotry are learned behaviors, and this book shows several examples of places where women were held back and where they were allowed to flourish. I don't think we need to tell kids of any gender that they can't be good at any subject. They should all be encouraged to pursue whatever subjects they are interested and encouraged to pursue their passions and talents.

I enjoyed learning about the women who have contributed to their fields of expertise, but I hadn't heard of many of them. That was kind of the point of the book though. Kaplan points out that throughout history, even through more recent times, women's accomplishments are overshadowed by their male counterparts and they are often unknown. Men take credit for their work or leave their names off of documents that they contributed to or wrote completely. Without the celebrity, the women weren't considered geniuses because no one knew who they were.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I learned a lot. Much of what the author pointed out in this book really resonated with me. I've experienced many of the scenarios in my life. I think this is a great addition to your non-fiction reads when it comes to learning about women in history, bias, and some awesome women that are doing great things to break down barriers now.

Loved the idea of this book but I just could not get into it. I think I may have had a different idea of what this book would be in my head than what it really was.

Any book that is encouraging women to be their best self is a book i would highly recommend. So often we are told we are not worthy and it is time we know our self worth!

I'm currently clearing out all of the books that were published in 2019-20 from my title feedback view!

First, this title and cover really caught my eye - have you ever heard of The Genius of Men? Nope. Kaplan really researched this topic well, giving the reader insight to amazing women and their achievements, insight throughout time on the females and their accomplishments. I loved all the interviews and this book will get you thinking.... realizing and recognizing bias that exist and how history is portrayed a certain way, shielding the women that contributed to various achievements. Even though this book is nonfiction, it def has a memoir mood to it, sprinkled with opinion, but I enjoyed those aspects of it.

THE GENIUS OF WOMEN • Janice Kaplan • DNF {**PLEASE DISREGARD MY STAR RATING; IT HAS NO BEARING ON THE ACTUAL QUALITY OF THIS BOOK}

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC. Normally I would share my honest review, but after several attempts at diving into this book, I am forced to admit that nonfiction reads are not for me. I have never gravitated towards them, but I wanted to step outside my comfort zone and give this book a-go when it was offered to me.

Unfortunately, this one just didn't grip my attention. I never even got to the 25% mark. That is absolutely not a comment on this book or it's author. The synopsis of this book seems great, and the writing itself is fantastic. I would still recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading nonfiction for fun! I am just not one of those people.

Best of luck to the author!

This was a good book. Not a great one though. The author had a lot of interesting stories to tell and interviewed an interesting variety of people, but sometimes her own views of the situation got a little heavy handed.

"For most of history, anonymous was a woman." - Virginia Woolf

If ever a book reflected that sentiment, it's this one right here. I loved, loved, loved the concept of this book - highlighting women who are geniuses, highlighting the inexplicable patriarchal nonsense that aligns mediocre men as geniuses consistently, and rethinking how women accomplish feats of genius - however, the pacing was a little bit like molasses to me. I started out absolutely on fire for the work, and then slowly but surely tapered off into a bit of general "meh" feeling. It left me feeling a bit like, okay, we've covered what obstacles and hurtles we have to jump in order to be considered on par with men of lesser talent - but *what now*? Deeper dives into the personal stories of the women highlighted - making their stories and backgrounds a larger part of the narrative would've had me a little more invested!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton Books for advanced access to this title!

THE GENIUS OF WOMEN is such a great book for women to read. It is both thought-provoking as well as inspirational. Kaplan shines a light on the work women have done throughout the years while exploring why they have not gotten the same praise and accolades attributed to men.

I received this from a publisher when requesting a different book. Upon trying to read it, I was not interested in the book.

3.5 stars.

As someone who really enjoys feminist nonfiction, I expected to love this one, but I struggled hard. The concept itself was amazing, but the actual follow through and pacing was a hard no. It sounded so good and it sounded like it would highlight the narratives of genius women. but it instead read like an opinion piece.. Which is fine in and of itself, just not what was promised with this book.

This book was one of my favorites of the year. It really made you think and ponder a few things that are going on and what we could possibly change. Will reread!!

Half History – Half Opinion
This begins as a wonderful history of the hiding of the intelligence of women. From being invisible to the world in spite of their genius to being celebrated for their genius and everything in-between. The author explores everything! I love the depth of her research. One of her points is the systemic sexism of Western Society. much like the systemic racism, we are exploring. There may be quite a bit of truth in that. Indeed, the status of women and minorities in the US has been hand in hand since the Civil War. From voting rights, acceptance in schools of higher learning, ability to achieve high rank in the military, it is all somewhat comparable. In today's world, we are still seeing 'the first woman to do this and that' because there are fewer instances of 'the first man of color to achieve this or that'. As she gets to the modern world, more of her talking points are her opinions without supporting facts. She begins then to frequently stand on her soapbox making claims that are just her personal and political bias. I found myself yelling at my e-reader about so many of her unfounded points in the second half of her book. Her liberal bias really stood out when she called out Laurel Thatcher Ulrich as ' an unlikely feminist heroine' because the chaired professor at Harvard was a Mormon mother of five and originally from Utah. She then praises Senator Elizabeth Warren for not yielding the floor when her allotted time was up – violating the Senate Rules of Order- something somewhat commonplace, but the author rates her highly for it because of Warren's 'I Persisted' buzz phrase. The author's Liberal bias took over and the second half of the book truly went downhill from there. Read it, enjoy it, but see through the pitfalls that hide opinion as researched fact. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

An inspiring read detailing mini biographies and interviews with the genius women of now and then. The author delves deep into what keeps women from being considered geniuses like men so easily have been for eternity. I truly felt this book would help any woman gain the confidence to nurture her own genius and make a life for herself. A great read for both women and men alike to better understand the capabilities of women in society.

Thank you Dutton and Netgalley for a copy of The Genius Of Women by Janice Kaplan to review.

This non fiction book highlights reasons why it's so hard to think of a woman genius. The other goes into a few of the factors as well as highlights a few women over history that absolutely should come to mind when asked. I did find the first half of this book a touch on the repetitive side but I found the second half had a lot more of the history of great women which I found much more interesting. As a women, I live the reasons most of these amazing people won't be on the tip of people's tongue when asked, so maybe I just didn't need to see all the research to believe it. A great and easily accessible book for anyone looking for a few great women to learn more about.

I wanted to love this book. Unfortunately it wasnt for me. The concept was great, unfortunately for me the execution was not. I would have liked more information on women and less on just the author.

I loved this book so much that as soon as it was published I went out and bought it. I will read almost anything that supports women.

You will love this book!! A celebration of women in a time that women are so often forgotten. I don't normally read nonfiction but this book was very enjoyable.