Any scientist who has worked in a laboratory with research assistants and eager students will identify with many a familiar scene in Lab Girl. They will have flashbacks to days when the discovery of a lifetime occurs, and they know that they know something that no one else does—at least until their discovery is published. Jahren writes, “I was the only person in an infinitely exploding universe who knew that this powder (the mineral that fortified each seed on each hackberry tree) was made of opal. In a wide, wide world I was—in addition to being small and insignificant—special.”  

This autobiographical story of a contemporary geobiologist from Minnesota includes detailed mini chapters that inform the reader about how particular plants or particular plant parts thrive and evolve.

Hope Jahren became a scientist by accompanying her father to his lab in the evenings where he allowed her free rein to explore. Although she had never seen a female scientist, she felt at home as one and was, eventually, totally at home in her own Jahren Laboratory—wherever it may be located.

Jahren is an observational biologist who looks for researchable questions by observing nature. Later in her career she meets and marries Clint Conrad, a scientist who conducts all research by computer modeling. Though they are compatible with their complementary styles of scientific inquiry, it was Bill, her lifetime, faithful lab assistant who was her real soulmate. Even as she and Bill each battled various forms of mental illness and insecurities, their tenacity for building labs from spare parts and adventures in digging mosses in Ireland led to impressive grant funds and top awards.

The thrills of scientific discovery and of passing knowledge on to generations of students that vibrate through this book will resonate with faculty and staff. Likewise, the personal struggles with getting published and funded and promoted will be familiar. 

Jahren was “driven to discovery.” UMRA members should find this a heartening and humorous book.

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren was published in 2016 by Alfred A. Knopf. This review is written by UMRA member and Past President Jean Kinsey.