Angela Saini

Saini's first book, Geek Nation: How Indian Science is Taking Over the World, was published in 2011. Her second book, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story, was published in 2017, a non-fiction book that explores the history of science's understanding of sex differences and the impact of this understanding on women's lives. The book delves into how scientists, researchers and society at large, have treated women as intellectually, emotionally and physically inferior to men for centuries. Through her research, Saini presents evidence to dispute these long-held beliefs, and how contemporary research is now challenging the traditional narrative about the differences between men and women. The book covers many historical as well as contemporary examples of bias and mistreatment of women in the scientific field and how these wrong perceptions and beliefs have been used to justify discrimination and inequality. The book also highlights the contemporary research that is proving these notions to be false and how the understanding of sex differences is becoming more nuanced and more accurate. The book has received positive reviews and praised for Saini's clear and engaging writing style and the in-depth research that is presented. Critics have also highlighted the book as a significant contribution to the current ongoing conversation about gender equality and the representation of women in STEM fields. It was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize in 2017. The book aims to inform readers on the background of these false beliefs and biases and to inform them about the more accurate understanding of sex differences that is being established today. The magazine of the Institute of Physics, Physics World, named Inferior as book of the year 2017. Saini told Physics World that her aim was to tackle the contradictory information on gender studies put forward in the media and in scholarly journals. "Really I just wanted to get to the heart of that riddle... what does science actually say about men and women and what is the true extent of the sex differences between us?" Her third book, Superior: The Return of Race Science, was published in May 2019. It was named as one of the top 10 books of 2019 by the science magazine Nature. “People want to believe they were born into a special group. Group superiority really appeals to them,” Saini says. In addition, “Very often they’re not remarkable people in their own right, and they need to believe something about themselves that makes them feel better about who they are.”