Women in Science: Botany

Lab Girl . By Hope Jahren. 2016. Alfred P Knopf. (ISBN 978-1-101-87493-6). 282 pp. Hardcover. $26.95. Anecdotal evidence suggests that every biologist who pursues a doctoral degree spends the first thirty minutes of each family event trying to answer some form of the question, “Why are you still in school?” Hope Jahren's delightful book answers the question nicely: Because scientific research is complicated, and studying living things takes time and patience. Jahren's book is laid out in alternating chapters of memoir and ecology trivia. Even though the topic is definitely scientific, the prose is that of a fiction novel, so the reader is easily drawn in to the story. The book follows Jahren's educational and career journey through an entertaining personal narrative. Much of the book describes the evolution of her close friendship with her lab partner and provides a sort of love note to their friendship. The first chapter of the book describes her emotionally isolated upbringing dominated by frigid Midwestern winters. Jahren describes spending time …