Amazing Women by Dr. C. Margerison

Genre: Non-Fiction/Inspirational/History
Title: Amazing Women
Author: Dr. Charles Margerison
Let’s face it. Women have come a long way, but we still have quite a distance to go before we are considered on equal footing with men. One way to further this progress is to inspire women, young and old, to reach for the stars and fulfill their dreams, and what better way to inspire than a book that focuses on the accomplishments of famous women in history. Amazing Women by Dr. Charles Margerison fits the bill perfectly.
Amazing Women is part of a series of BioViews, a form of literature created by Dr. Margerison to resemble autobiographies of famous people as if they were alive today and either writing their stories themselves or relaying them to an interviewer. Each story in Amazing Women revolves around a woman in history, who took the bull by the horns and let nothing stop her from reaching her goals. Each account is short and sweet and to the point. They give the essence of each person – what made them tick, what was important to them, and how they achieved their goals. Granted, some liberties have probably been taken in the interpretations of these women’s lives, but the author makes a point to also list the historical facts at the end of the book, as well as each woman’s known contributions to history.
In this collection, among many others, we meet Elizabeth Blackwell, who tirelessly fought the prejudice over women in medicine and became the first woman to qualify as a medical doctor in the United States, even though no hospitals would hire her. She believed in educating, not just doctoring, and fought to convince people that social conditions were the cause of much disease. She even opened a clinic in the slums where the most help was needed. We also meet Marie Curie, who helped to discover ways to cure illness with radiotherapy treatments, and was the only woman to win two Nobel Peace Prizes, and Elizabeth Macarthur, one of the founding mothers of Australia, who helped develop the colony and established agriculture and commerce there. Readers will be in awe of Irene Sendler, who risked her life on numerous occasions to smuggle children out of the ghetto in Warsaw where the Jews were held, and Mother Teresa, who lived among the poor and devoted her life to helping those in need. The list goes on and on, but one common thread emerges. Each woman was a trailblazer who led by being a pioneer and paved the way for future changes in the world. For each of them, the cause was always worth the trials and tribulations, and they were all incredibly tough, resilient, and determined. Most of them lived in a time where women were still expected to get married and stay at home and have babies and education was not an option, but they refused to accept this. They wanted to make a difference in the world and all thrived on challenge, and so somehow they balanced their personal lives and work lives and still made huge impacts on the world. Some had the support and encouragement of family and/or friends while others had to go against family to achieve their goals. Although I was familiar with some of the names in this book, I found it amazing how many women were behind great ideas in history but were left virtually unknown. It is wonderful to see them recognized.
What is truly beautiful about this book is that Margerison is a natural storyteller who doesn’t bog the reader down with unnecessary details but provides a neat summary of the accomplishments of each of these incredible women in flowing story format. There are some people who enjoy losing themselves in a lengthy history tome, but the average person just becomes bored by drawn-out accounts of history. Therefore, Amazing Women provides an effective tool for people to learn without feeling overwhelmed. What a wonderful inspiration to women of all ages everywhere in the world but especially to the up and coming female success stories. Anyone lacking in confidence, but especially females, can read this book and come away with the knowledge that any dream is possible. I would love to see this book in the school systems to be utilized as a tool to encourage girls who don’t have the courage to chase their dreams. Turning the last page of this book, I was left with the knowledge that the battle was worth it and must continue!
Dr. Charles Margerison is a Chartered Psychologist and a member of the Royal Institution and the Royal Literature Society. He is Chairman of Viewpoint Resources Ltd. and was previously Professor of Management at the Universities of Cranfield (UK) and Queensland, Australia. He was also a co-founder of Emerald, the world’s leading publisher of management journals and databases.


Reviewer: Cindy Taylor, www.allbooksreviewint.com
Title: Amazing Women
Author: Dr. Charles Margerison
Format: ebook
Publisher: Amazing People Club
July, 2011