The Book Nook – “Lab Girl” by Hope Jahren

Do you think you have an obsession with plants?  Wait until you read about Hope Jahren! In her incredibly well-written memoir “Lab Girl”, Dr. Jahren affords us front-row seats into her fascinating personal and professional journey as a paleobiologist.

Hope has expertly crafted her book so that each chapter on the growth and development of plants, trees in particular, corresponds with another chapter on her own development.  For instance, she details the incredible odds every seed meets in developing into an adult tree, and then describes the immense obstacles she overcame to secure the grant funding she needed to grow as a scientist.

In one chapter, Jahren tells of a 1977 attack of Tent caterpillars that was killing a research forest of Sitka willow in King County, Washington.  In defense, the willows loaded their leaves with caterpillar poison, along with a secondary airborne compound that signaled to other Sitka willows that the trees were being wounded.  Healthy Sitka willows over a mile away sensed this signal and also began to produce the caterpillar poison, thus saving the forest from ruin!

In the following chapter, Hope’s lab partner reads the signals she is transmitting and convinces her to seek proper medication for the Bipolar Disorder that was ravaging her life, essentially saving her from ruin.

From Roots and Leaves, to Wood and Knots, to Flowers and Fruits, Hope Jahren fills each chapter with fascinating stories of strength and survival; both her own and that of the plant kingdom.  Her boundless passion for understanding and protecting our natural environment is commendable.  Here is an excerpt from the book to whet your appetite:

The leaves of the world comprise countless billion elaborations of a single, simple machine designed for one job only – a job upon which hinges humankind.  Leaves make sugar.  Plants are the only things in the universe that can make sugar out of nonliving inorganic matter. All the sugar that you have ever eaten was first made within a leaf.  Without a constant supply of glucose to your brain, you will die.  Period.

I hope you will enjoy reading “Lab Girl” by Hope Jahren.  Let me know if you want to borrow my copy.