Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

I loved Hope Jahren's journey in Lab Girl from a town in southern Minnesota and student experience at the University of Minnesota to her various stops setting up labs to study plants and geobiology around the United States. Her student work experience at the pharmacy at the U of MN hospital covers the specifics of her sterile technique and the balance of life and death experienced by the patients receiving the medication.

She structures the book similar to Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Short chapter discussions about the life of plants mirror her growth as a researcher struggling to get an experiment to work, get lab equipment, and get her research assistant enough funds to not live as an indigent out of his van.  The constant battle to secure funds is similar to the struggle for plants to survive.

She makes a wise decision during her attempt to furnish her lab with used materials from a retired professor. There is an old mass spectrometer in the lab. It would be difficult to fit into her U-Haul and there was a substantial amount of mercury in the instrument. They wisely left in behind and avoided a haz-mat incident during transport.

After finishing the book, the reader will learn more about plants, soil, research, the struggle to survive, and friendship.

Lab Girl Interview - Hope Jahren - 17 minutes

The Secret Life of Plants - Hope Jahren - 6 min.