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Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science * M.G. Lord * Walker & Co. * $24

Note to Harvard prez Larry Summers: If you think women are innately less capable than men of success in math and science, read about their hard-won battles in Astro Turf Author M.G. Lord knows this gender-biased territory: A savvy cultural critic (Forever Barbie), she's also the daughter of a Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist who believed, as did most men of his generation, that women could best serve science by making the coffee and answering the phones.

If women had it bad back in the day, queers had it worse. Lord spends much of one chapter telling the stories of gay scientists who survived Eisenhower's Executive Order 10450, which in 1953 listed "sexual perversion" as grounds for firing federal employees. These days things are much improved at JPL. There's insurance for domestic partners and a GLBT organization. And a few women heroes have emerged.

In Lord's hands Astro Turf is neither dry nor angry. Rich with juicy stories and generous in spirit, it's a scientific page-turner. Even if Larry Summers never reads it, you should.