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Hardcover Lab Girl Book

ISBN: 1101874937

ISBN13: 9781101874936

Lab Girl

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Format: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good*

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Book Overview

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.

Customer Reviews

2 ratings

A Wonderful Read

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone. Her enthusiasm for botany definitely rubbed off on me, and I loved the way that she explained the science concepts. Hope Jahren's story inspiring, and her prose is truly beautiful.

Don't miss this book! An absolute GEM!

This memoir of a delightful botanist who is so brilliant, so enthusiastic, so inspiring and in addition so incredibly hilarious...I cannot think of a single book I have read in a lifetime ( 68 years) that has so touched my heart and ultimately my soul... I absolutely could not put it down..then never wanted it to end...Very special woman...truly once in a lifetime does such a writer come along...I want to read everything she ever writes!!!!
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