A few years ago I read Broad Band, a history of women in early computing, which blew my mind. I’d taken for granted that computers and the early internet were wholly the domain of socially awkward dudes with glasses wearing pocket protectors and that only later had women begun exploring it. Instead, Claire Evans drew back the curtain and revealed how early programming was dominated by women, creating foundational programming languages like COBOL. Recoding History is a different approach to the same general subject, with a lot of overlap in the women it highlights, but very much worth experiencing for IT history geeks given that it’s not an author reading a history: it’s recordings of the women themselves, telling their own stories, either in interviews, lectures, or other recordings. Broad Band made me an instant fan of Admiral “Amazing Grace” Hopper, and I was delighted to hear her speak here. Recoding is a little broader in the women it highlights, as Broad Band had a focus on women who contributed to the Internet. Here, we meet women whose work support NASA’s mission, from designing rocket trajectories to creating the software that allowed lunar landing, or — away from the coding side and more into business management — had visions that led to products like the Palm Pilot. In addition to the quality recordings, this presentation has some background effects which I thought were a nice, subtle addition. The book ends with the designer of the first vocal robot, and offers her reflections on the world of AI. As a fan of IT history, I enjoyed this for the most part: the business-oriented chapters were less interesting to me than the tech, of course, but I know that sort of thing has its audience, and those who are mentoring young girls and want them to be ambitious builders of the future will definitely want to take a look at this as a possible spark for inspiration.