Lab Girl

by Hope Jahren

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography
A New York Times 2016 Notable Book
National Best Seller
Named one of TIME magazine’s "100 Most Influential People"
An Amazon Top 20 Best Book of 2016
A Washington Post Best Memoir of 2016
A TIME and Entertainment Weekly Best Book of 2016

"A beautifully written memoir about the life of a woman in science, a brilliant friendship, and the profundity of trees. Terrific." —Barack Obama

An illuminating debut memoir of a woman in science; a moving portrait of a longtime friendship; and a stunningly fresh look at plants that will forever change how you see the natural world

Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.

Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s remarkable stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a father who encouraged hours of play in his classroom’s labs; about how she found a sanctuary in science, and learned to perform lab work done “with both the heart and the hands”; and about the inevitable disappointments, but also the triumphs and exhilarating discoveries, of scientific work.

Yet at the core of this book is the story of a relationship Jahren forged with a brilliant, wounded man named Bill, who becomes her lab partner and best friend. Their sometimes rogue adventures in science take them from the Midwest across the United States and back again, over the Atlantic to the ever-light skies of the North Pole and to tropical Hawaii, where she and her lab currently make their home.

Jahren’s probing look at plants, her astonishing tenacity of spirit, and her acute insights on nature enliven every page of this extraordinary book. Lab Girl opens your eyes to the beautiful, sophisticated mechanisms within every leaf, blade of grass, and flower petal. Here is an eloquent demonstration of what can happen when you find the stamina, passion, and sense of sacrifice needed to make a life out of what you truly love, as you discover along the way the person you were meant to be.

• ISBN10: 1101874937
• ISBN13: 9781101874936
• Publish Date: 5 April 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf
• Format: Hardcover (Deckle Edge)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101874936

Reviews

[merryfaith]

Great memoir. I loved how she weaved in her personal life and struggles with biopolar disorder with geobiology experiments and facts and often used them as metaphors. Plus, I just learned a lot about plants and trees and the life of a scientist without being bored in the least, so there's that. Skip the audiobook if you can - I made it about an hour and a half and returned it to my libby app and grabbed the ebook to finish it. Other reviewers have noted that the audiobook was a slow and hard listen for them too, so good to know it wasn't just me. The source material really is phenomenal, though.

[Beth C.]

Growing up in a family where her father was a scientist (THE scientist in town) and used to take her to the lab with him, Hope Jahren knew from the time she was small that she wanted to be a scientist as well. She struggled and persevered, and has more than accomplished her goal - and this book is not only about how she got there, but about the plants she has studied along the way.

Jahren details her struggles not only with established scientists (mostly male), but also with the devastation wrought by mental illness. Interspersed throughout are chapters discussing plants and trees, to some degree used almost as a marker to coincide with where the author was in her own life at the time. The first few chapters of the book took a little getting used to, with the alternating between her story and that of the plants, but once I got the hang of it, it truly was an interesting way to write a memoir.

The chapters about the plants and trees are much more interesting than I'm making them sound - the writing is truly lovely. I learned so many things I hadn't known before, and I honestly felt almost like I was reading an ode to all things green. Those chapters more about the author were honest and occasionally brutal, particularly once her mental illness begins to manifest.

Overall, this is a story about struggles, perseverance, fortitude, and luck - both human and plant. It's also about the beauty of life, regardless how it's lived. I would definitely recommend this book, and I think it would be a great one for book clubs to read and discuss.