The autobiography of a transgender scientist
(Book)

Ben Barres, born Barbara, was a prominent neuroscientist. Educated at MIT, Dartmouth, and Harvard, he was a professor and department chair at Stanford. He wrote his autobiography while battling pancreatic cancer, which took his life two years after his diagnosis. In recounting his life in science first as a woman and later as a man, he details the different ways he was treated based on gender. Barbara was told she must have had her boyfriend help her with a math problem on a MIT take-home exam because the professor could not believe a woman could solve a problem that had stymied her male classmates. Even with a stronger publication record and stronger letters of recommendation, she was turned down for a grant in favor of a less qualified male applicant. After transitioning in 1997, Ben found he was treated with more respect than as a woman in the scientific community. He used this new power to fight for more gender equality and against sexual harassment, particularly with graduate students. Barres's book could be of interest to anyone studying gender equality in academe, as well as anyone concerned about transgender issues. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --John B. Napp, University of Toledo

Stanford neuroscientist Barres's short, somewhat formal but sincere autobiography, written in the 21 months between his cancer diagnosis and his death in 2017, uses a tripartite structure to highlight each of the important streams of his life story. "Life" covers Barres's childhood and details the frustrations of proving oneself as a bright woman in academic science in the 1970s through the '90s while privately dealing with the gender dysphoria that would finally lead him to transition in his 40s. He soon discovered that the professional impact of being transgender was much less negative than that of being perceived as female. Barres's summary of his laboratory's methodology development and key research findings about glial cells in "Science," though clear and concise, provides no technical background for the general reader. In "Advocacy," Barres refers to his influential 2006 Nature article "Does Gender Matter?", written in reaction to Harvard President Larry Summers's public expressions of bias against women in STEM. He urges his male colleagues to believe both the research and the lived experiences of women in science about the persistence of gender bias. Barres is profoundly appreciative of both his academic mentors and his trainees, and his prose is matter-of-fact; his activist fire comes through in the very fond introduction by colleague Nancy Hopkins, in which she shares bits of his vitriolic letters to conferences that refused to invite women speakers or create anti-sexual harassment policies. This is a brief, intriguing snapshot of a life cut short. (Sept.) c Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Published posthumously (Barres died of pancreatic cancer in 2017), this slim autobiography packs in a lot of information. Barres (former chair of neurology, Stanford Univ.) divided his unique story into three distinct sections-life, science, and advocacy-with the portion devoted to his life the most accessible. Barres was born female, and as a woman, known as Barbara, he became interested in science and attended MIT as an undergraduate; later earning an MD from Dartmouth and a PhD from Harvard. At the age of 43 and tenured at Stanford, Barbara decided to transition to Ben. Written in a friendly style, this title reveals the amazing mentors the young Barbara was fortunate enough to have, the discrimination she experienced, and the emotional toll of Barres's gender dysphoria. The science section (interesting but factually dense) chronicles Barres's life-long commitment to researching glial cells and their role in disease, while the chapter on advocacy reaffirms his commitment to mentoring young scientists and the importance of fighting for gender equality in science. VERDICT An inspirational account of a life well-lived. Will appeal to science researchers interested in the journey of LGBTQ people in STEM fields.-Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's Sch., Brooklyn © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Published posthumously (Barres died of pancreatic cancer in 2017), this slim autobiography packs in a lot of information. Barres (former chair of neurology, Stanford Univ.) divided his unique story into three distinct sections—life, science, and advocacy—with the portion devoted to his life the most accessible. Barres was born female, and as a woman, known as Barbara, he became interested in science and attended MIT as an undergraduate; later earning an MD from Dartmouth and a PhD from Harvard. At the age of 43 and tenured at Stanford, Barbara decided to transition to Ben. Written in a friendly style, this title reveals the amazing mentors the young Barbara was fortunate enough to have, the discrimination she experienced, and the emotional toll of Barres's gender dysphoria. The science section (interesting but factually dense) chronicles Barres's life-long commitment to researching glial cells and their role in disease, while the chapter on advocacy reaffirms his commitment to mentoring young scientists and the importance of fighting for gender equality in science. VERDICT An inspirational account of a life well-lived. Will appeal to science researchers interested in the journey of LGBTQ people in STEM fields.—Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's Sch., Brooklyn

Stanford neuroscientist Barres's short, somewhat formal but sincere autobiography, written in the 21 months between his cancer diagnosis and his death in 2017, uses a tripartite structure to highlight each of the important streams of his life story. "Life" covers Barres's childhood and details the frustrations of proving oneself as a bright woman in academic science in the 1970s through the '90s while privately dealing with the gender dysphoria that would finally lead him to transition in his 40s. He soon discovered that the professional impact of being transgender was much less negative than that of being perceived as female. Barres's summary of his laboratory's methodology development and key research findings about glial cells in "Science," though clear and concise, provides no technical background for the general reader. In "Advocacy," Barres refers to his influential 2006 Nature article "Does Gender Matter?", written in reaction to Harvard President Larry Summers's public expressions of bias against women in STEM. He urges his male colleagues to believe both the research and the lived experiences of women in science about the persistence of gender bias. Barres is profoundly appreciative of both his academic mentors and his trainees, and his prose is matter-of-fact; his activist fire comes through in the very fond introduction by colleague Nancy Hopkins, in which she shares bits of his vitriolic letters to conferences that refused to invite women speakers or create anti-sexual harassment policies. This is a brief, intriguing snapshot of a life cut short. (Sept.)