Comments (56)

What did you think about this title?
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Dec 18, 2023ehvizd rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Jahren is a skilled writer as well as an award winning scientist. My favorite parts of this book delved into her relationship with fellow lab rat, Bill, her lab tech who she met during a dig. This relationship humanized what at times could…
Mar 11, 2023Jessicadere rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
Boring, didn't finish. Her voice and style of writing irritated me.
Jun 05, 2022betsymarzoni rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
To complete the library's reading challenge for 2022, I am required to read a book about a woman working in the STEM field. So, I picked up "Lab Girl" as my daughter recommended. The very beginning read "boring and dry", as I expected, but…
Feb 02, 2022SF2242 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Really fun book, a fast read; really wonderful, amazing information about trees. She describes being a girl better in one paragraph than I've ever heard before. Also helpful was having her describe what goes into paying lab assistants.…
Jan 25, 2022Kimberleygray rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I have had several people recommend this book to me. I have a PhD in Chemistry so I was curious about the story. I am not really sure if it engaged me as much as it did other people. Maybe because we were getting our doctorates around…
Dec 22, 2021MT60 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Reading the user reviews, I was prepared for many stories about author Jahren being denied opportunity because of her gender, but I saw little of that. Seems to me that she always was perceived as an inspired scientist. Her and her…
Aug 12, 2021JLMason rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
"Lab Girl" is a mundane title for a fascinating autobiography by a talented female scientist and gifted writer. It's delightfully written, using analogies from the plant world to punctuate the seminal phases in her life. Her story…
Mar 25, 2021TJH1229 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Never has science been so wild.
Mar 02, 2021
Hope is one of those exceptional writers able to create engaging text phrase after phrase by choosing the exact right words, avoiding clichés, and delightfully surprising the reader with the way she puts together words, paragraphs and…
Oct 26, 2020
Read for bookgroup
Aug 19, 2020Newmommy09 rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
If my fellow readers out there are looking for a true botany journey with beautiful writing, read Michael Christie's "Greenwood."
Jul 03, 2020ulana2001 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is a fabulous read. I found it to be a real inspiration to me and perhaps others who love botany.
Jun 03, 2020
I will never look at a tree in quite the same way again after reading Hope Jahren's memoir of what it's like to be a woman and a scientist in the United States today. She combines her personal history with deep and engaging dives into the…
Jan 27, 2020
I appreciated the perspective of the book, written by a female scientist that was used to being told “no” because she was a girl and yet she always dreamed big to have her own research lab some day. When she reached that dream, she still…
Sep 19, 2019klimekk rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Lovely
Aug 25, 2019
Part of former US President, Barack Obama's summer reading list for 2019.
Jun 25, 2019JessicaGma rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I feel this is a good book for anyone debating whether they should pursue or avoid being a scientist. Hope Jahren is willing to do anything for her work, and finds her colleague Bill who is also a hardcore scientist. But it's a lifestyle…
May 02, 2019EmilyEm rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Geobiologist Hope Jahren started life in small-town Austin, MN, and became the research scientist she dreamed. This is her story. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Jahren mixes her memoir with stories about trees and…
michaelfwood
Apr 14, 2019michaelfwood rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Fascinating botanical revelations artfully woven into an interesting memoir.
spudwil
Jan 14, 2019spudwil rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Decent read.
Dec 04, 2018IndyPL_AnikaW rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Memoirs by female scientists can seem few-and-far-between. Hope Jahren's account of her life is both an homage to her prodigious scientific output and interests as well as her intriguing life story, beginning in rural Minnesota with…
Oct 09, 2018legadillo rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
More life lessons than science lessons.
Jul 29, 2018blue_41 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Hope Jahren's book is a story of a still developing scientist driven by curiosity, creativity, and perseverance. She and her collaborators get results to questions about how plants grow and survive in the wild by asking critical…
May 14, 2018
FROM LIBRARY STAFF Book Club meeting will be held Wednesday, June 13 at 1:30 p.m. at Angus Glen Library
Apr 30, 2018orange_lobster_23 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is a beautifully crafted, memoir of a passionately curious geo-biologist and a warm and funny tribute to her fellow researcher-soul-mate. Interspersed with mini-essays about the nature of soil, earthworms and tenacity of plants and…