Lab Girl in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Aug 09, 2017 Mary rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: format-audio

I really enjoyed everything about this book - all the science, the hard work, the beautiful writing and Jahren's true love of nature. She does an excellent job narrating; I was really touched by the emotion she showed.

I attended Georgia Tech and still live in suburban Atlanta. It was fun to hear that part of her story (also a little cringe-worthy). ...more

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Apr 24, 2016 Heidi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: garden-nature, memoir-biography, audiobook, nonfiction, narrated-by-author

I listened to this in some serious chunks. I loved most of it - the stories of deciding to become a scientist, and memoirs of building a science lab, and explanations of how science is funded in the USA. Science, from the discoveries to the teaching environment and experiments, is the common theme across the book, but it covers being a young woman coping with manic depressive episodes, and coping with car accidents, and finding love too. The nature of plant respiration and how they communicate a ...more

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Aug 12, 2016 Elizabeth rated it liked it

She really captures what it is to love to do research. She also documents some incredibly dubious life decisions without seeming aware how dubious they are. Pros and cons.

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Apr 09, 2016 Denise Cormaney rated it really liked it

I loved this! The science parts when right over my head, but it didn't matter. When she described her love and understanding of science, it was pure poetry. I marked so many passages in this book! This wasn't her intention, but I thought she made a clear argument for why the arts and literature are important when studying the sciences. Her stories of the misogyny she had to deal with were enraging, but it's what you would expect for a young woman trying to establish a career in a male dominated ...more

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