6 Terrific Books for Getting Girls Into Tech

Room to Read CEO Geetha Murali on her favorite page-­turners for future scientists and engineers.
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Susan Wojcicki (left) and Geetha MuraliMichelle Groskopf
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Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube

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Geetha Murali, CEO of Room to Read


October 2018. Subscribe to WIRED.

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Geetha Murali’s mother grew up in Chennai, India, in a family in which child marriage was common. When she was 13, she rebelled and went to school instead. “Education became a driving force in her life,” Murali says. “She instilled that obsession in me.” Murali went on to earn two master’s degrees (in statistics and South Asian studies) and a PhD. In 2013, as the chief development officer of literacy nonprofit Room to Read, an education nonprofit , she caught the attention of Susan Wojcicki, who later joined the board. Inspired by her own 9-year-old daughter, Murali shared her picks for budding technologists.


by Hope Jahren
This memoir describes the geobiologist’s relationships with her scientist father and, later, a female coworker. I like that it shows a girl having mentors that are male and female.


Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World

by Pénélope Bagieu
A graphic novel in which women rebel against societal norms and conquer their respective fields, from exploration to invention.


Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science and the World

by Rachel Swaby
Swaby shines a light on dozens of pioneers in science and mathematics.


by Jacqueline Kelly
The tale of a 19th-century girl exploring the secrets of Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species. I love how the heroine is driven by her own curiosity.


Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women

by Catherine Thimmesh
Did you know a woman invented the windshield wiper blade?


by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
My 9-year-old daughter loves this book because it makes her imagine herself as the hero of her own story.

Photography by Halie Chavez

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