Recoding History: The Audacious Women Who Shaped Our Digital World

by Reshma Saujani

Recoding History: Audacious Women Who Shaped Our Digital World is an immersive look into the lives of some of computer history's most ingenious and audacious women. Pulling from the Computer History Museum’s archives and hosted by Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, listeners will learn and laugh along with these great minds as they recount their stories in their own words. In addition, Reshma and contributing experts help bring the women’s remarkable accomplishments to life and discuss their significance in the longer arc of technological history. In an era driven by technology and computing, Recoding History: Audacious Women Who Shaped Our Digital World spotlights lesser-known figures whose work continues to impact our daily lives—and reminds listeners that in order to build a brighter future, inclusion and innovation must go hand-in-hand.

Recoding History: Audacious Women Who Shaped Our Digital World is an Audible Original presented in partnership with the Computer History Museum and produced by Treefort Media.

©2024 Computer History Museum (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Womens, Technology, Audiobook

Audible Audio

Published January 1, 2024

About the author

Reshma Saujani is the Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology and change the image of what a programmer looks like and does. With their 7-week Summer Immersion Program, 2-week specialized Campus Program, after school Clubs, and a 13-book New York Times best-selling series, they are leading the movement to inspire, educate, and equip young women with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. By the end of the 2018 academic year, Girls Who Code will have reached over 50 thousand girls in all 50 states and several US territories. The results speak for themselves: 88% of alumni have declared a CS major/minor or are more interested in CS because of Girls Who Code

Reshma began her career as an attorney and activist. In 2010, she surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. During the race, Reshma visited local schools and saw the gender gap in computing classes firsthand, which led her to start Girls Who Code. She has also served as Deputy Public Advocate for New York City and ran a spirited campaign for Public Advocate in 2013.

Reshma’s TED talk, “Teach girls, bravery not perfection,” has more than three million views and has sparked a national conversation about how we’re raising our girls. She is the author of two books, Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World, the first in a 13-book series about girls and coding which debuted as a New York Times bestseller, and Women Who Don’t Wait In Line, in which she advocates for a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship and sponsorship, and boldly charting your own course — personally and professionally.

Reshma is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and Yale Law School. She’s been named one of Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders, Fortune’s 40 Under 40, a WSJ Magazine Innovator of the Year, one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York by the New York Daily News, CNBC’s Next List, Forbes’s Most Powerful Women Changing the World, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People, Crain’s New York 40 Under 40, Ad Age’s Creativity 50, Business Insider’s 50 Women Who Are Changing the World, City & State’s Rising Stars, and an AOL / PBS Next MAKER. Saujani serves on the Board of Overseers for the International Rescue Committee, which provides aid to refugees and those impacted by humanitarian crises, and She Should Run, which seeks to increase the number of women in public leadership.

Reshma lives in New York City with her husband, Nihal, their son, Shaan, and their bulldog, Stanley.

Reviews

[Michelle N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved hearing about how women played pivotal roles in tech.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of a presentation than an audiobook, as most of the content consists of interviews or recordings from the women themselves talking about their experiences: they range from the 1940s to the late 1990s, though the author sometimes makes connections to modern issues like artifically intelligence. Most of the women interviewed worked directly with software, though there are two who were connected to IT strictly through the business end. Because of the timeframe focused on, there are several women who were involved with NASA, first in rocketry and then in the lunar lander software. Audio quality is quite good despite the age of some of the recordings, though the author/host's narratives that connect things together is sometimes repetitive. There's also added audio in the form of background effects which makes it more enjoyable altogether. I've read books like Broad Band and Code Girls, so I thought I appreciated the role of women in the early computer age, but I was proven wrong here, not realizing how many uber-early programmers were women. There's some overselling in the narrative, as we're told to bemoan the fact that none of these women are household names, but then how many programmers are household names? Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg are the only ones I can predict would come to mind, and their fame owes less to their being men and more to their creating empires, not merely foundational products.

Note: if you enjoyed hearing this, do check out Broad Band, which is a more formal history of many of these same women.

[MKay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished this book on International Women’s Day.

“Recoding History: The Audacious Women Who Shaped Our Digital World” by Reshma Saujani offers a captivating exploration of the remarkable women who shaped today’s technological landscape. Narrated by the author, the audiobook seamlessly integrates interviews from the Computer History Museum, providing an authentic glimpse into the lives and achievements of these unsung heroes. Saujani skillfully contextualizes each woman’s journey within the societal and cultural norms of their time, shedding light on the obstacles they overcame to make groundbreaking contributions.

As the founder of “Girls Who Code,” Saujani brings her passion for gender equality in technology to life, making this audiobook both informative and inspiring. With engaging narration and compelling storytelling, “Recoding History” is a must-listen for anyone interested in the untold stories of women in tech.

~assisted using ChatGPT 3.5 (2024)

[Catherine Puma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great podcast series made for the Computer History Museum (which I'll have to visit if I ever find myself in Mountain View, CA) which highlights significant contributions women have made to the digital age. Hosted by Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, this is a nice mix of journalistic discussion and recordings from historical interviews. Topics include ballistic missile path predictions, Apollo space missions, the internet and user domains (.com, .edu, .gov, etc.), Apple's rollout of the Macintosh, companion robots and the rise of AI (and checking against data biases thereof).

I wish there had been a few sentences explaining why these specific historical achievements and female figures were chosen to be included, because obviously there is only so much that can fit into an episode-limited podcast. Nonetheless, this is an informative listen important not just for those working in technology and computing, but also all of us. We all live in a digital world and have a diverse cast to thank for so much of what we rely on every day.

[Lauren Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is really helpful to hear mini biographical sketches of trailblazing women involved in computing and information sciences across the years. Fascinating stories about the development of these fields and many women who shaped them…. Check it out!

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring stories of women trailblazers in technology. More of a podcast than an audiobook.