National BestsellerWinner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for AutobiographyA New York Times Notable BookGeobiologist Hope Jahren has spent her life studying trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Lab Girl is her revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also a celebration of the lifelong curiosity, humility, and passion that drive every scientist. In these pages, Hope takes us back to her … that drive every scientist. In these pages, Hope takes us back to her Minnesota childhood, where she spent hours in unfettered play in her father’s college laboratory. She tells us how she found a sanctuary in science, learning to perform lab work “with both the heart and the hands.” She introduces us to Bill, her brilliant, eccentric lab manager. And she extends the mantle of scientist to each one of her readers, inviting us to join her in observing and protecting our environment. Warm, luminous, compulsively readable, Lab Girl vividly demonstrates the mountains that we can move when love and work come together.
Winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Film Prize for Excellence in Science Books
Finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, TIME.com, NPR, Slate, Entertainment Weekly, Newsday, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Kirkus Reviews
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“Lab Girl” is a rare and memorable book. I wouldn’t have chosen it on my own, but it was sent to me with highest recommendation by a friend who, like me, has no formal science background but who revels in connecting with the natural world and feeling her place in it. We also share an interest in family patterns and how they affect us. I was deeply moved by Lab Girl and gave my copy to a neighbor– who liked it so well she passed it on her doctor. I recommended it to a physicist friend in Minnesota (where the book is set) who saw herself in it and urged colleagues to read it.
“Lab Girl” pulled me into new worlds– botany and scientific research– and held my attention with fascinating information about those realms. But even more appealing to me are the artless first-person narration, vivid characters, gripping story line, and especially, the uplifting self-discovery. Jahren recognizes the lacks and graces of her own upbringing, her own family pattern. When her first child is born, she uses these insights to shape herself as a parent. She frees herself in a wonderfully original way, enriching her own life and that of her child. This epiphany complements the rest of her story and, to me, makes the book resonate with strength and hope.
For me, “Lab Girl” was more than a good read–it was personally transformative. We each respond to books differently, but this book is so honest and so rich in many ways that most readers will find it time well spent indeed. I plan to get another copy for my bookshelf.
Hope did a great blend of personal challenges with her exploration of natural challenges. She draws you into botany and biography.
Great read for us botany types!
It made me interested in biology again. The author knows how to make her subject matter accessible and interesting! Learned alot about what I’ve taken for granted in nature, and about the process of being a scientist! This should be on everyone’s TBT list!
I loved her story and the way she writes! Very inspirational for all with a STEM jones
Thank you Hope !
a wonderful look at people in a setting that isn’t given as much attention as it deserves
Unbelievably interesting. I am not a science person but Jahren makes botany relevant to everyday life. I was surprised but I can honestly say I loved this book. Our Book Club selected it. I would have missed a great experience if left on my own because I never would have picked it for myself.
Non fiction memoir of a woman scientist. At first reading I felt it was overly descriptive of all things botanical as I wanted to hear more about her life. The botanical & geological stuff was her life. It was very important to help understand Hope Jahren.
Wonderful memoir of a female scientist who seamlessly weaves her story in with fascinating science for not scientists.
This was not what I was expecting … it was so much more. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s wit mixed with an honesty rarely found in autobiographies. Also, readers will instantly be drawn to her quirky, wonderful co-worker, Bill. He has to be real because he’s too incredible to makeup.
Her descriptions of plants were quite beautiful. She also has a very complicated personal story.
Lab Girl is a very well-written memoir of a woman scientist skillfully combined with fascinating narratives about the plants she studies. It reminds me of the Lewis Thomas classic, Lives of a Cell.
I tried…but I just couldn’t get interested in this book. The first chapter was great…lots of talk about her background and her education. Subsequent chapters were mired with way too much detail about the author’s work. I know the book is about science and about discoveries, but I just don’t have the background or interest in the minute details of sorting gas residue by the nuclear weight of each sample. Just give me a description of what you’re trying to do, a sentence or two on how you did it, and what you did with the results…instead of paragraph after paragraph of details the general public can’t understand!
Beautifully written memoir by a woman scientist.
Very reader friendly education on the importance, relevancy and fascination of the life of a botany scientist. With global warming and urbanization it is a must read for anyone curious about how important plant life is to our planet.
Excellent book. One of my favorites and have recommended it to several friends. Very well written and a great look at the field of science and those who work in this field. A good perspective of being a woman in a field that was generally male dominant. An honest accounting that could inspire young women to become scientists.
Great to read about female scientists and enjoyed reading about this one in particular. Written in an interesting fashion and capture the difficulties of being a professor, no matter your male/female. Enjoyed that she wasn’t willing to compromise on tackling some tough scientific questions. Really good stuff.
Lab Girl is such an engrossing read! You won’t soon forget this book.
A scientist and woman that let’s us look into her life and her soul. Inspiring.
This is a great book, part discourse on plant biology and part biography of a scientist, it makes both topics engrossing by the intertwining of the narrative. It will give you a much greater appreciation
of scientists and their almost impossible struggles and of plant’s amazing biology. Ms. Jahren has achieved making those two far from exciting topics into a delightful page turner.