Under The Microscope

LIVES WITH SCIENCE, by Paula Martin; Museum of New Zealand 1993; 62 pages; $24.95

It's always good to see scientists portrayed as real people, and even nicer to see Suffrage Year support for a book dealing with the lives of senior women scientists in New Zealand. There's inspiration and some good advice in these pages, as well as stories of struggle and the pleasures of scientific triumphs.

The women and their experiences cover a broad range of sciences, and it's gratifying to note that at least three of them have appeared in the NZSM in articles covering on-going research.

I would have liked to have seen an introduction helping to put these lives in context and perhaps explaining what -- if anything -- has changed over the last 40 years or so, but Martin has done well on the inevitable "shoestring budget". Give it to your teenagers -- girls or boys.

Vicki Hyde, NZSM

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.