Figuring

Figuring 
by Maria Popova
Pantheon Books, 2019. 578 pages, Nonfiction

In Figuring, Popova introduces readers to a smattering of interconnected historical figures, from astronomers to sculptors, writers and poets to biologists, with varying degrees of notoriety. Instead of the standard format, describing their contributions to their fields or their life’s importance, she describes their work as their way to understand human connections that go beyond the confines and structures in place in society and describes their search to broaden their understanding of the ways poetry, art, science, and love all interconnect throughout our lives and to make meaningful interactions and experiences and shift the global consciousness.

Many, but not all, of the figures Popova profiles are women in the arts and sciences whose focus on unpopular ideas for their time, or themes such as feminism, religion and spirituality, and ideas like transcendentalism, intersected science, history, social issues and politics. Readers are introduced to the people included in this book through their own words, in their letters and correspondence with their loved ones and confidants for a unique, singularly intimate portrayal (some of my favorites included Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Emily Dickinson). This is a deeply moving and well researched book best enjoyed at a leisurely pace in order to really soak in the dense, somewhat academic concepts.

RC