Rating: 4/5 290 pages, 2016
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Sep 19, 2020
Lab Girl
by Hope Jahren
This was great. It was not what I expected all round- I delighted in reading about experiments on the lives and methods of plants (especially details about tree biology, which read as little independent essays), how Jahren and her fellow scientist Bill came up with their ideas, the meticulous work involved, the scrounging for lab equipment and funding, the long hours and sleepless nights, the road trips and field work . . . What took me by surprise was to find myself also reading about mental illness, the mania and depression of bipolar described very frankly. And to read a birth story when she had her son. It kind of all is one long birth story- the story of how Jahren found her life's work in science, and struggled to grow into the best person she knew to be, doing the best science, hoping it would all get seen someday. Some parts are laugh-out-loud funny, some parts are very tense, and some incredibly insightful. Definitely keeping this one to enjoy and learn from again. Wish I could say more about it but not finding a lot of words right now. It is rather significant the things the author did not tell throughout this memoir, but they didn't really bother me until I read some other reviews and thought about them more. For example: she tells about a nearly-disastrous, ill-planned road trip to a conference where she's supposed to present a paper, but then there's nothing about the conference and only one comment about the presentation itself. Hm. Well, I liked it regardless. Might read it more closely next time. There will be a next time.
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I like books like this; they always make me see or learn something I didn't know before. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been feeling very high on the subgenre People With Jobs lately -- it's fun to read about the nitty-gritty of someone's job, whether it's in nonfiction or not. I read a book called Lives in Ruins all about archaeologists once, and it was just a gem. I kind of want to reread it now.
ReplyDeleteLark- I definitely learned a lot of new things! Such as- how precise and meticulous people working in hospital pharmacies have to be (the author had this job before she had her own lab). I know I've complained in hospitals about requested medicine not arriving soon enough- well, now I know why!
ReplyDeleteJenny- I really like books that get into detail about specific jobs, too. That archeologist one, now I'll look for it!