Figuring
Easy read
Heartwarming
Profound

Figuring

Maria Popova2019
Figuring explores the complexities of love and the human search for truth and meaning through the interconnected lives of several historical figures across four centuries--beginning with the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion, and ending with the marine biologist and author Rachel Carson, who catalyzed the environmental movement. Stretching between these figures is a cast of artists, writers, and scientists--mostly women, mostly queer--whose public contribution have risen out of their unclassifiable and often heartbreaking private relationships to change the way we understand, experience, and appreciate the universe. Among them are the astronomer Maria Mitchell, who paved the way for women in science; the sculptor Harriet Hosmer, who did the same in art; the journalist and literary critic Margaret Fuller, who sparked the feminist movement; and the poet Emily Dickinson. Emanating from these lives are larger questions about the measure of a good life and what it means to leave a lasting mark of betterment on an imperfect world: Are achievement and acclaim enough for happiness? Is genius? Is love? Weaving through the narrative is a set of peripheral figures--Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Darwin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walt Whitman--and a tapestry of themes spanning music, feminism, the history of science, the rise and decline of religion, and how the intersection of astronomy, poetry, and Transcendentalist philosophy fomented the environmental movement.
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Reviews

Photo of Mary Grace Wolnski
Mary Grace Wolnski@marygracewolnski
5 stars
Aug 19, 2024
Unique
Profound
Meaningful
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Molly M@molsmcq
5 stars
May 1, 2024
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Katie Chua@kchua
4 stars
Aug 13, 2022
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Courtney Woolery@courtneyskye
5 stars
May 22, 2022
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Stephanie Beatrice @livelyevergreen
5 stars
Jan 21, 2022
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Aarti Talwar@talwaraarti
5 stars
Sep 17, 2021
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Hazel Evans@hzlvns
5 stars
Aug 12, 2021
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Jeremy Cote@cote
4 stars
Aug 7, 2021
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Ana@anaaniri
2.5 stars
Jul 27, 2023
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br@kitcheniovers
3 stars
Jan 26, 2023
Profound
Easy read
Heartwarming
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Nitin Khanna@nitinkhanna
5 stars
Aug 8, 2022
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Eve@vitah89
1 star
Mar 29, 2024
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Emma Bose@emmashanti
5 stars
Mar 3, 2024
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Aidan@aidan
2 stars
Dec 28, 2023
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Maria Flowers@mariaflowers
5 stars
Jan 25, 2023
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Andy Sporring@andysporring
5 stars
Nov 20, 2022
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Jonathan Grunert@jgrunert
4 stars
Oct 21, 2022
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Keith Lang@kjl
4 stars
Oct 18, 2022
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Sabine Delorme@7o9
4 stars
Mar 5, 2022
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Christian Beck@cmbeck
2 stars
Sep 26, 2021

Highlights

Photo of Sila Baykal
Sila Baykal@silabaykal
Photo of Nica Rhiana
Nica Rhiana@paperback
Page 190
Photo of Nica Rhiana
Nica Rhiana@paperback
Page 71