The Calculating Stars

Executive Summary: Less Sci-Fi and more Historical Fiction, but really enjoyable. I'd pitch it as a cross between [b:The Martian 18007564 The Martian Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413706054s/18007564.jpg 21825181] and [b:Hidden Figures 30840370 Hidden Figures The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space Margot Lee Shetterly https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474752658s/30840370.jpg 55627110]Audiobook: Normally I'm not a fan of authors reading their own work, but I've listened to Ms. Kowal as a narrator for other books before and she is good. She does a few voices and accents that add that little extra something to the audio version.Full ReviewI've been wanting to read a book by Ms. Kowal for a few years, but the blurbs for her previous books just never really appealed to me. This one however was right up my alley.I'm not sure how much research she did, but it seems like a lot. The fiction part of this book is mostly setting up a reason to accelerate the US space program by about a decade and then continue to push it forward from that point in a way we never really did. It sort of posits: “What would our space exploration look like if we made it the main focus and not just a Cold War arms race?”.I really like Elma. I can relate a lot to her and her social anxiety. I love the way she counts numbers in her head when she's feeling anxious. Maybe I should give that a try. All of the characters are pretty great though, even those I don't like at all (I'm looking at you Parker).I'm not really a fan of romance stories, which I think is one of the things that has kept me away from Ms. Kowal's previous works. There is definitely a romance subplot here, but it's not the focus. I will say there is A LOT of sexual innuendo/double entrades. I mostly found it funny, but if that kind of thing bothers you, you could get tired of it.Even though this book is set in the 1950s, there is a lot of commentary relevant today. I'm not sure how much of that is clever writing and how much is just the sad fact of how little progress has been made since that time. I thought it was well done without being heavy handed. It was important to the plot, but not the point of the plot if that makes any sense.Overall I really enjoyed this book a lot and immediately jumped right into the second one. I'm glad I was finally able to pick up a book by Ms. Kowal and that I liked it as much as I did.