Lab Girl

A Memoir

By: Hope Jahren

Narrated by: Hope Jahren

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.


Music for the Audio Edition:
Composed by Katelyn Sweeney Ching
Margaret Kocher, Cellist
Katelyn Sweeney Ching, Pianist
Mark Robinson, Audio Engineer
Copyright 2016

Pure Gold--at the Top of a Very Long Personal Book List

Great science, written with clarity and heart; humor and wit, human drama; realistic picture of the frustrations of a woman researcher dealing with a male dominated power structure in graduate school and beyond; and a powerful, timely ecological message. This book is a delight. I especially appreciated documentation of how flawed people can heal and uplift each other through simple honesty and kindness. Bravo Dr. Hope Jahren!

Hurray for Lab Girl!

I think something really special happens when a scientist has the ability to use the written word to successfully communicate and explain to the rest of us what they do. In Lab Girl, Hope Jahren does that and she does it beautifully.

As the daughter of a father who was a physics and earth science teacher and a mother who instilled in her a love for literature, Jahren charmingly blends both of those passions in this remarkable memoir.

I have never heard a scientist of any field, speak so passionately about what they do as Jahren does here. She captured my imagination and I now have a new sense of respect for geobiologists, as well as for plants, what they mean for us and the viability of our planet.

Although her narration felt a little flat at first, she increasingly grew on me specially towards the 2nd and 3rd parts of the book.

Lab Girl was educational, enlightening, quirky and pretty funny.So here's hoping that many young women read this book and get inspired by Hope Jahren's life and her devotion to science.

Thank you, Hope!

Hope, thank you for sharing your life story with us! It was an emotional ride and you made me feel your joys, your pains and your successes. Bill is very lucky to have a friend like you. And you are lucky to have a fiend like Bill who was there when you needed him.

My best wishes to you and your family.

Amazing writer and narrator

I am amazed at the clarity of emotion and scientific reasoning that Hope Jahren delivers in Lab Girl. It is a masterpiece of literature, of real world science, and connection to nature. Listening to this book will change your understanding of how life works. Plus, it's really funny!

Beautifully written

The author and narrator had a soothing voice which I quite enjoyed and her story of her life as a scientist was full of fascinating nuggets of knowledge about the world of plants. Her relationship with her lifelong colleague, struggles with a mood disorder, and family dynamics were honestly and beautifully expressed. A different kind of book and such a pleasant listen.