There is more than enough Ruth Bader Ginsburg-themed Internet ephemera to fill the pages of a glossy coffee table book—the kind you’d eventually find piled up on the discount table at Urban Outfitters. And the life story of the trailblazing, brilliant Supreme Court justice could easily fill the pages of a thick biography—the kind of tome you’d likely never get around to reading, despite the best of intentions.

Notorious RBG, the new book inspired by the Tumblr account of the same name, aspires to take from the best of both.

“When we were thinking about how to put it together, we didn’t have a model,” says Irin Carmon, the MSNBC reporter who co-wrote the book with the Notorious RBG Tumblr creator Shana Knizhnik. “We wanted to capture the freewheeling spirit of all the Internet love, but take it a step deeper and flesh her out as a person and deepen people’s knowledge of the legal issues.”

Both the style and substance have clearly captivated: Notorious RBG debuted at number 7 on the New York Times non-fiction list.

The book also has spawned headlines like “8 Fascinating Facts About Ruth Bader Ginsburg You Need To Know Right Now”; “Feminist husbands are the best. Just ask Ruth Bader Ginsburg”; and “13 ‘Notorious RBG’ Quotes That Will Make You Cheer.” But even the clickbait-iest of posts have depth, which reflects the nature of the book.

In addition to documenting the phenomenon of the Notorious RBG—the tattoos and t-shirts and Halloween costumes that have ricocheted around social media —there is also the sobering and consistently surprising biography of a feminist pioneer.

Born Joan Ruth Bader, and nicknamed Kiki, to a sharply intelligent mother who was deeply constrained by the gender roles of her day, RBG (as Carmon, who wrote the text, refers to her throughout the book) was underestimated at nearly every turn. She broke barriers by being unobtrusive, by keeping her head down, and working harder than seemingly anyone else (also, apparently, sleeping less than anyone else).

But RBG was also denied clerkships and opportunities while facing the kind of overt sexism that is all but unthinkable today. When she told an interviewer for a job with the federal government that she was pregnant, he dropped her rank and pay to the lowest possible amount. A dean at Rutgers told RBG that she would be paid less for her position because “you have a husband who earns a good salary.”

Unlike the feminists of later generations, she took the indignities quietly and simply proved her worth time and time again. By the late 60’s, though, “her days of quiet acceptance were over,” as Carmon put it in the book.

RBG went on to file two pay-discrimination lawsuits against the universities that employed her; she pioneered a successful legal strategy that emphasized how gender discrimination harmed both women and men; co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU; and successfully argued before the Supreme Court on multiple occasions. Carmon and Knizhnik also bring to light less high-profile victories, like the time RBG advocated on behalf of two dozen maids who were about to lose their jobs at Columbia University, and traced her work bridging the civil rights and women’s rights movements. “We saw just how before her time her feminism was,” Carmon says.

In addition to a ferocious work ethic, RBG has become known for her reserved, exacting public persona. They quote Aminatou Sow’s remarks on her turn in the pop culture spotlight: “I think people who are no-nonsense people are rewarded greatly by the Internet.”

But Carmon and Knizhnik dig up a series of stories about her life beyond the billowing robe. Among them are scenes from her remarkable marriage to Marty Ginsburg, her affinity for water-skiing, and the workout routine that has kept her in shape into her eighties.

Before researching the book, “I didn’t know just how exuberant she is about her fitness,” Carmon says. “You think of her as a very careful, reserved person, but she really lets loose.”

Carmon is coming to the District to discuss the book, but doesn’t think she’ll have to explain at least one thing. “We think of D.C. as our people,” she says. “In D.C., you don’t need to explain to anyone that you can both nerd out and have fun.”

Carmon will be in conversation with Fatima Gross Graves at Kramerbooks on Sunday, November 15 at 6:30 p.m.; the event is free. She will also be signing books at the National Press Club Book Fair on November 17. Tickets for NPC and Politics & Prose members are $5; general admission tickets are $10.