An illuminating debut memoir of a female in science; a moving portrait of the longtime camaraderie; and a stunningly clean look at plant life that will forever change how you see the natural world

Acclaimed scientist Wish Jahren has generated three laboratories where she’s studied trees and shrubs, flowers, seed products, and garden soil. Her first book is definitely a revelatory treatise on place life-but additionally it is so much more.

Lab Girl is a book about work, love, as well as the mountains that may be moved when those two things about Lab Girl come together. It is informed through Jahren’s extraordinary stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a dad who encouraged hours of enjoy in his classroom’s labs; about how exactly she found a sanctuary in science, and learned to perform lab work completed “with both heart as well as the hands”; and on the subject of the inevitable disappointments, but also the triumphs and exhilarating discoveries, of scientific work.

Yet in the core of the book may be the story of a romantic relationship Jahren forged with a brilliant, wounded man named Bill, who becomes her lab partner and best friend. Their sometimes rogue journeys in science consider them in the Midwest over the United States and again, over the Atlantic towards the ever-light skies from the North Pole and to tropical Hawaii, where she and her laboratory currently make their house.

Jahren’s probing take a look at vegetation, her astonishing tenacity of nature, and her severe insights on nature enliven every page of this incredible book. Lab Gal opens your eye to the stunning, sophisticated systems within every leaf, cutting tool of grass, and blossom petal. Here is an eloquent demonstration of what can happen when you find the stamina, enthusiasm, and feeling of sacrifice had a need to make a lifestyle out of what you really 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