Geeks may be outcasts in mainstream society, mocked for their lack of social graces, but they're still taking over the world. The geeks we hear about are men like Bill Gates and George Lucas. But where are the stories about the triumphant female geeks whose software has invaded desktop computers across the globe and whose inventions will change the future?

She's Such a Geek is a groundbreaking anthology that celebrates women who have flourished in the male-dominated realms of technical and cultural arcana. Editors Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders bring together a diverse range of critical and personal essays about the meaning of female nerdhood by women who are in love with genomics, obsessed with blogging, learned about sex from Dungeons and Dragons, and aren't afraid to match wits with men or computers. Some contributors, like scientists/technologists Ellen Spertus, Roopa Ramamoorthi, and Corie Ralston, work in traditionally male-dominated professions. Cyberlaw professor Wendy Seltzer describes how her involvement with law and politics started with a love for building computers. Others consider themselves cultural nerds: Devin Grayson writes comic books, while other contributors read science fiction and play in professional videogame competitions.

The collection includes essays by high school girls, as well as nerdy mothers who are balancing childrearing with their careers. Celebratory, polemical, wistful, angry, and just plain dorky, the women of She's Such a Geek explain what it means to be passionately engaged with technical or obscure topics that are supposed to be for boys only, while busting stereotypes of what it means to be a geek and what it means to be female. More than anything, She's Such a Geek is a celebration and call-to-arms: It's a hopeful book that looks forward to a day when women will invent molecular motors, design the next ultra-tiny supercomputer, and run the government.

"This jubilant if uneven anthology of 24 essays spotlights women who write comic books for a living, get caught up in their favorite role-playing games and win 'sexiest geek alive' contests by sporting a corset made out of circuit boards. Though editors Newitz (Pretend We're Dead) and Anders (Choir Boy) celebrate women's technical accomplishments and nerdy hobbies, several contributors also discuss their encounters with sexist discrimination. Programmer Kory Wells remembers the professor who complimented her skills by saying she was 'really, really good, for a girl,' while Mara Poulsen recalls programming videogames for a company whose female characters were ridiculously underdressed. Ranging from engineers and biophysicists to a high school student, the irrepressible contributors write with varying levels of eloquence, but their passions run equally high, whether they're portraying a Harry Potter character in an online community or gaining early acceptance at MIT." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"The authors share an empowering vision of their community through diverse narratives demonstrating the variety of experiences related to being female in this male-dominated sector of society." Library Journal

A groundbreaking anthology that celebrates women who have flourished in the male-dominated realms of technical and cultural arcana.

Annalee Newitz is a contributing editor at Wired magazine and also writes for New York magazine and Salon, among others. She has discussed her work on CNN, NPR, CBS, the Discovery Channel, BBC and the CBC. Annalee holds a PhD in English and American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Charlie Anders is the author of Choir Boy and The Lazy Crossdresser. Her writing has appeared in Salon, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, among others.