Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (audiobook)

genre: memoir/science

For Hope Jahren, a tree is not just a thing, not just some shade on a sunny day or a windbreak in the backyard. For Hope, a geobiologist, a tree is endless wonder.  It can be a record of our planet's past and a key to our future survival.  Lab Girl, her memoir of being a female scientist in a male field, is the story of not just her scientific exploits and her nearly sibling-like friendship with her lab partner, but it's also a love letter to the plants that inhabit our earth and an unflinching look at what makes them tick.

I listened to Hope narrate her own book and I have to say, I really liked her narration.  Sometimes she got more emotional than I've ever heard a narrator be on an audiobook, but it worked for me.  When she's discussing her mental illness, I FELT her emotions so clearly, and while this wasn't the point of the book, I really really appreciate that she didn't leave it out because part of what makes her so good at what she does is the way that her mind works.  For those of us either with mental illness ourselves or who love someone who does, it is encouraging to see someone struggle through and still be successful.  One thing that threw me was how little she spoke about her parents in the beginning but when she brought them up again later, I felt like she expected me to know more about their troubled relationship than she ever shared with us as readers, which was a bit jarring.  I did, however, really appreciate learning about the life of an academic scientist, the constant search for funding and challenge of making a name for yourself and your work.

She's a great writer.  Sometimes the prose is positively beautiful, I've never thought of trees and plants in such a complex way, I loved that.  It's not going to be a book that keeps everyone's attention but I really enjoyed it.

for sensitive readers: strong language