Lab Girl
A very eye-opening and honest memoir about the intense determination it takes to be a real scientist, connected with fascinating facts about plant biology.
When I first picked up Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, I assumed it would be a standard, somewhat dry science book about trees and soil. However, I was completely wrong. This book is actually a very engaging memoir that shows what working in the scientific field is truly like in the real world.
Hope Jahren is a geobiologist, and she does not sugarcoat her experiences. Instead of just talking about her successful discoveries, she spends a lot of time explaining the intense struggles of her career. For example, she goes into detail about the constant, overwhelming stress of trying to get grant funding and the late nights spent trying to fix broken lab equipment with her lab partner, Bill. It really shows that science is not just doing neat, predictable experiments in a classroom; it requires a massive amount of hard work and learning how to deal with failure.
The most interesting part of the book is how she connects her own life challenges to the life cycles of plants. Between the chapters about her career and travels, she includes short sections explaining concepts like how a single seed can wait underground for years before it finally decides to sprout. These sections are written beautifully and make you appreciate nature on a much deeper, more complex level.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone. It is both highly educational and very moving. It gives a realistic, sometimes harsh picture of the scientific community but also shows how much passion and curiosity are required to succeed. If you have any interest in biology or just want to read about a dedicated, hardworking person, this is an excellent choice.