Adult Book Group - Morning (off-site)

The Morning Book Group meets on the second Monday of each month. Drop-ins welcome. Copies of this month's selection can be picked up at the library's front desk.

This week, while the library is closed, we'll meet in City County Chambers in City Hall, 1103 S Columbus Ave, Goldendale, WA 98620.

This month we're discussing Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly.

Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.