In her debut business book, Tedrick shares her experiences as a woman of color working in technology and offers guidance for others looking to pursue similar career paths.
Tedrick describes the variety of work and workplaces that fall under the heading of “technology,” making it clear that careers in technology extend well beyond writing code at Google and Facebook. She details the variety of jobs available—including data science, computer networking, cybersecurity, and technical sales, among many others—and lists the education and certification readers will likely need for each type of job. The guide provides copious links to industry organizations, training resources, and further reading and covers standard job hunting and career development aspects like writing a resume, building a LinkedIn profile, networking, and negotiating salaries. The author recounts particular challenges that women and people of color face in the workplace and in technology roles—offering stories of how she has dealt with microaggressions, hostility, and dismissiveness. She helpfully outlines how she moved past the setbacks to pursue success and includes advice from other women of color. The book is most valuable in its close focus on the realities of the tech world, providing detailed information in a well-organized format about the many options that go far beyond coding, like project management and user experience design. Tedrick’s writing is clear and readable (“Much of a UX designer’s time is spent making sure that they understand the needs of both the business and the end user of the product or service they’re working on”), making this a solid resource for readers without specialized knowledge of the industry. While these lessons are valuable for anyone exploring a tech career, addressing the needs of women of color gives Tedrick a unique hook and sets the book apart from the rest of the career development pack.
Solid guidance from a woman who has made her mark in a technical role.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-119-63348-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: MOTIVATIONAL & PERSONAL SUCCESS | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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Building on his lysergically drenched book How to Change Your Mind (2018), Pollan looks at three plant-based drugs and the mental effects they can produce.
The disastrous war on drugs began under Nixon to control two classes of perceived enemies: anti-war protestors and Black citizens. That cynical effort, writes the author, drives home the point that “societies condone the mind-changing drugs that help uphold society’s rule and ban the ones that are seen to undermine it.” One such drug is opium, for which Pollan daringly offers a recipe for home gardeners to make a tea laced with the stuff, producing “a radical and by no means unpleasant sense of passivity.” You can’t overthrow a government when so chilled out, and the real crisis is the manufacture of synthetic opioids, which the author roundly condemns. Pollan delivers a compelling backstory: This section dates to 1997, but he had to leave portions out of the original publication to keep the Drug Enforcement Administration from his door. Caffeine is legal, but it has stronger effects than opium, as the author learned when he tried to quit: “I came to see how integral caffeine is to the daily work of knitting ourselves back together after the fraying of consciousness during sleep.” Still, back in the day, the introduction of caffeine to the marketplace tempered the massive amounts of alcohol people were drinking even though a cup of coffee at noon will keep banging on your brain at midnight. As for the cactus species that “is busy transforming sunlight into mescaline right in my front yard”? Anyone can grow it, it seems, but not everyone will enjoy effects that, in one Pollan experiment, “felt like a kind of madness.” To his credit, the author also wrestles with issues of cultural appropriation, since in some places it’s now easier for a suburbanite to grow San Pedro cacti than for a Native American to use it ceremonially.
A lucid (in the sky with diamonds) look at the hows, whys, and occasional demerits of altering one’s mind.Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-29690-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Categories: BODY, MIND & SPIRIT | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | PSYCHOLOGY | NATURE | BODY, MIND & SPIRIT | HEALTH & FITNESS
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SEEN & HEARD
A straightforward, carefully detailed presentation of how ``fruit comes from flowers,'' from winter's snow-covered buds through pollination and growth to ripening and harvest. Like the text, the illustrations are admirably clear and attractive, including the larger-than-life depiction of the parts of the flower at different stages. An excellent contribution to the solidly useful ``Let's-Read-and-Find-Out-Science'' series. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 4-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-06-020055-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
Categories: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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