Sherr's biography of "AFWIS" (America's First Woman in Space), as she kiddingly called her friend, is endearing and well researched. It especially helped me to realize the broad and deep impact that Ride had in her post-astronaut life, as well as the hurdles that women and young girls still face in the fields of science and engineering.
And yet the story still feels incomplete because Ride was always such a private person in much of her life. Because of this, we would never have gotten a Sally Ride autobiography. So I suppose that Sherr's book is probably the best we can hope for. ( )

After reading this book, I have far more appreciation for the lady engineers that came before me. Thank you! ( )

A good read .I learned a lot about NASA - good and bad.

Booklist says “this is an intimate and enormously appealing biography of a fascinating woman, a triumph of research and sensitivity that lives up to its subject…”.

Lynn Sherr is a journalist who has often covered the space program, and was also a personal friend of Sally Ride. But, like many people, she discovered after Ride's death that she didn't know nearly as much about her as the thought she had. And so, with the permission and encouragement of those closest to Ride, she set about attempting, as best she could, to capture both the professional and the personal sides of her life.

The professional part of her life was remarkable, indeed. She is best known, obviously, for being the first American woman to fly in space, but that was only one step in an impressively accomplished career. Ride was also a physicist, an athlete, a businesswoman, an educator, a mover and shaker in the world of space policy, and, of course, a role model to an entire generation of girls (something that, unlike many of the other effects of fame, she embraced actively and wholeheartedly).

Her personal life was much more difficult to paint a complete picture of, however. Ride very much fit the stereotype of the tough, emotionally closed-off astronaut. She preferred not to talk much about herself or her feelings, and liked to keep her private life private. So private, in fact, that she kept a 27-year relationship with her same-sex partner secret from the world until the final days of her life.

The book, overall, is an interesting look at an extremely interesting person. I wasn't entirely sure about the writing style at first, as Sherr seemed to me at times to be trying a little too hard to make it feel breezy and zingy. Fortunately, that settles down once she reaches Ride's adulthood, and the rest of it works very well.

And Sally Ride's story is very much worth telling, not just because it's compelling in and of itself, but also because it illustrates vividly how attitudes towards women have changed -- some of the sexist remarks she had to deal with, especially from reporters, almost defy belief at this point -- and how important it still is to encourage young girls and help them to feel that STEM careers are acceptable to them. Sadly, it also illustrates the how far LGBT acceptance and equality have lagged behind the progress made by women, as well as the personal and societal costs of that lack of acceptance. It's clear, after all, that continuing to exclude women from the space program and other areas of life and work would have robbed us all of this person with incredible contributions to make, but had she publicly acknowledged her sexuality, or her partner, she wouldn't have been allowed to make all of those contributions, anyway. Those are important things to be aware of, and that makes Ride's an important story to be told, as well as an interesting and inspiring one. ( )