A New York Times Editors’ Choice

Most Anticipated Books of 2023 at Lithub and The Millions

Booklist Starred Review

“Incisive…Penaluna skillfully captures the thinking of these four women in impassioned prose as she challenges sexism in the canon… Lucid and frank, this blend of memoir, biography, and criticism makes a solid case for why representation matters.”—Publishers Weekly

“A much-needed revelation.”—Literary Hub

“Penaluna tacks between rage and humor, biography and theory. Her writing is sharp and rousing. Her message is consoling and motivating. If this is what it means to think like a woman, sign me up.”—Wall Street Journal

“Penaluna engages rigorously with her subjects’ work… she not only counteracts [women philosophers’] omission from the canon, but fashions the beginnings of a new one entirely.” —The Atlantic

“Penaluna deftly tells the stories of four 17th and 18th century female philosophers, skillfully weaving their narratives into a rich exploration of her own experiences of patriarchy and sexism in academia.”—Observer

“An alternate philosophical canon, where women and their intellect are deeply and rigorously examined.”—The Millions

“Thought-provoking… Engaging… A considerable achievement.”—Booklist, starred review

“[Penaluna’s] story of rebuilding and reimagining personally and professionally demonstrates defiant independence from patriarchal prescriptions and their shame and an embrace of feminist anger, ambiguity, and diversity of thought… [A] redemptive reclamation of the female voice in the study of philosophy.”—Kirkus 

“Self-awareness is the book’s governing theme, and it is conveyed with empathy and intelligence. Let there be more such books.”—The Scotsman

“A feminist rallying cry informed by centuries of thought on the ‘woman question,’ this elegantly written and intellectually rigorous memoir is a gift to women in male-dominated fields—and to everyone living a life of the mind while also trying to be a decent human being.”—Ada Calhoun, Author of Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis

“A sharp-eyed reappraisal of four brilliant women in history — and a provocative challenge to the philosophy bros.”—Helen Lewis, author of Difficult Women

“How to Think Like a Woman is a fascinating and illuminating work of non-fiction by a writer of real style and critical intelligence. Regan Penaluna has created an elegant synthesis of intellectual history, memoir and feminist polemic that deserves to be widely read as a corrective to centuries of misogyny and erasure in philosophy.”—Mark O’Connell, author of Notes from an Apocalypse

“In a world in which philosophy is not only sexist in underestimating women’s actual and potential contributions, but actively misogynistic in pushing women out of the field, we need this book. Regan Penaluna’s How To Think Like a Woman is at once a deeply personal and philosophically riveting meditation on four brilliant and inspiring female philosophers—Mary Astell, Damaris Masham, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Catharine Cockburn—that I learned so much from. A must-read for anyone who cares about what happens to women, young and old, in this needlessly and harmfully male-dominated profession.”—Kate Manne, author of Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women

“Regan Penaluna’s courageous book is a walk along the bluffs, amid the drowned gardens, telling of the sun and flood of her life. Along those bluffs four women from the past keep her company, awaiting the words she will speak of them and herself.”—Alexander Nemerov, author of Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York

“While still writing in a style that is both clear and concise, Penaluna meticulously tells the stories of women who were abused and discredited by history’s “greatest” male philosophers, and of those who openly challenged those same men’s ideas in their own philosophical work, disallowing her reader to repeat the same injustice of forgetting.”—The Winnipeg Free Press

“As a woman in philosophy, not only did How to Think Like a Woman challenge me, but it gave me an overwhelming sense of being known. Regan Penaluna reclaims the conversation surrounding "the problem of women" with an honesty and self-awareness that is unmatched.”—The Southern Bookseller Review