--- product_id: 39521023 title: "Lab Girl: A Memoir" brand: "hope jahren" price: "379 kr" currency: NOK in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.no/products/39521023-lab-girl-a-memoir store_origin: NO region: Norway --- # Lab Girl: A Memoir **Brand:** hope jahren **Price:** 379 kr **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Lab Girl: A Memoir by hope jahren - **How much does it cost?** 379 kr with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.no](https://www.desertcart.no/products/39521023-lab-girl-a-memoir) ## Best For - hope jahren enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted hope jahren brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Geobiologist Hope Jahren has spent her life studying trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Lab Girl is her revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also a celebration of the lifelong curiosity, humility, and passion that drive every scientist. "Does for botany what Oliver Sacks’s essays did for neurology, what Stephen Jay Gould’s writings did for paleontology.” — The New York Times A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century In these pages, Hope takes us back to her Minnesota childhood, where she spent hours in unfettered play in her father’s college laboratory. She tells us how she found a sanctuary in science, learning to perform lab work “with both the heart and the hands.” She introduces us to Bill, her brilliant, eccentric lab manager. And she extends the mantle of scientist to each one of her readers, inviting us to join her in observing and protecting our environment. Warm, luminous, compulsively readable, Lab Girl vividly demonstrates the mountains that we can move when love and work come together. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Dimensions | 5.14 x 0.66 x 7.96 inches | | Edition | Reprint | | Isbn 10 | 1101873728 | | Isbn 13 | 978-1101873724 | | Item Weight | 2.31 pounds | | Language | English | | Print Length | 304 pages | | Publication Date | February 28, 2017 | | Publisher | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | ## Images ![Lab Girl: A Memoir - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81csh2s0pLL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Obligation to Self v. Obligation to Community - Why I Appreciate this Book *by on Reviewed in the United States August 26, 2016* I am almost finished reading Lab Girl - I just finished Part 3, Ch. 8. I don't know why I feel compelled now to review it, having not even finished it, but I guess I've been doing it along the way, anyway. I think I am mostly motivated by a particular review I stumbled upon while googling various things related to the book, as they came up - it was not a particularly good review - the reviewer was disappointed, no, she was really upset because the book didn't depict the real "struggle" facing women in the field, particularly facing Hope Jahren who has accomplished so much. I suppose because I was already several chapters into the book when I stumbled upon the review I had an enhanced reaction to it - like no way, you just don't get it. I really like this book - for everything it is and also for what it is not - it's honest, and Hope Jahren is a great writer. What's more, the book is reminiscent of what I loved about studying literature in college - I was an English major and I ended up concentrating on African-American literature, because only in that genre did I find that I could really follow the evolution of voice - from the slave narrative to popular fiction -- and with it the evolution from obligation to community to obligation to self -- at what point are we allowed to write for ourselves; as women, particularly women professionals, when do we get to tell our story without having to do it within the confines of our obligation to our community? Why does Jahren's book have to be dense in the struggles of academia or denser in science? Why can't it just be what it is - rich in details of a personal journey- her own struggle with herself, her insecurities, her intellect, her family, her emotional connections with others, her desire to be a great scientist, but also to have a husband and a family, her desire to impart her love of her field to others - and she does impart it as the best teachers always do - the best teachers are those who love their work - students are more apt to learn when the teacher is excited and fascinated about her subject, and Jahren is - the structure of the book is perfect for imparting the beauty of her work and setting it against or as prelude to its corresponding point of her personal life or development. I found the science parts wonderfully enriching - they ignited an interest in me to want to learn more (hence googling various topics as they came up).And, I felt a personal connection to the book - of course because I am a professional woman who has struggled in a male dominated field with some of the same issues that Jahren has faced, and it's the things she chooses to write about that are also the most significant in my life now. I also live in Baltimore, where she spent considerable time, and I know two of the scientists at SOEST in Hawaii, though I haven't spoken to either of them since Ralph Nader was running for President. Still, the book resonates for me on a number of levels.Mostly, I just wanted to give my 2 cents, for what they are worth. I'm looking forward to savoring the remaining chapters.... ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gorgeously written science essays in alternating chapters make this a must-read *by on Reviewed in the United States February 2, 2017* ScienceThrillers review:Lab Girl had a well-financed launch by the publisher (loads of “buzz”), and as soon as I heard about it, I knew I had to read it. The scientist-author of this memoir, Hope Jahren, is a woman about my age, who also grew up in rural southern Minnesota. I was eager to read her story about a life in science.What did I think of Lab Girl?I think it’s two different books inside a single cover. One of the books was mind-blowingly beautiful. The other, not so much.What makes this book definitely worth reading are the chapters that are essentially free-standing essays about plant science. As others reviewers have noted, read these and you will never look at trees the same way again. Jahren’s appreciation of the plant world is as rich and deep as Minnesota soil. She will bring you into a tree’s point of view, create drama in a tree’s slowly unfolding life story, show you the complexity you cannot see with your eyes. I absolutely savored each one of these literate, scientific interludes in the book. Jahren artfully constructs each essay as a kind of link or metaphor for the surrounding chapters–plant science as life story. And it works!Here are some openings from these chapters to give you a flavor:"No risk is more terrifying than that taken by the first root. A lucky root will eventually find water, but its first job is to anchor–to anchor an embryo and forever end its mobile phase, however passive that mobility was.""The American South is a plant’s idea of Eden. Summers are hot, but who cares, because the rain is generous and the sunshine predictable…The heavy humidity that chokes us is like nectar to a plant; it allows it to relax and open its pores, and to drink in the atmosphere, confident that evaporation will not interfere.""The life of a deciduous tree is ruled by its annual budget."These brief, glittering gems of science writing alternate with the “memoir” part of this book. Here’s the problem with reviewing a memoir: I find it impossible to separate the literary merits of the writing from the personality of the subject. In Lab Girl, the writing is unquestionably of high quality and the stories are interesting. Which is why I read the whole book, cover to cover, even though I felt a dislike for the author herself. Jahren rightfully complains about some aspects of a life in science, specifically, the endless, soul-sucking burden of trying to get funding for your lab. Another of her refrains felt to me more like a chip on her shoulder: that she was constantly disrespected because she was a woman. How “true” was her perception? I can’t say. But when it was revealed that the author suffers from severe bipolar disorder, I felt justified in taking some of her attitude with a grain of salt.The memoir sections are obviously about events in Jahren’s life and scientific career. Most of them revolve around an intense relationship she has with an unusual misfit of a man named Bill. The relationship defies categorization; at times it resembles mother-son; at others, brother-sister. Book clubs should have a field day discussing it.In summary, this critically acclaimed science memoir is beautifully written throughout. I highly recommend it for the essay chapters. If you read the memoir chapters and are turned off by the narrator, feel free to skip those parts. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I don’t think there is another book I love more than Lab Girl *by on Reviewed in the United States June 22, 2017* I don’t think there is another book I love more than Lab Girl. This is not a book about science or botany, but rather one woman’s journey with so many relatable moments. Usually when I read a book, I like to mark it up and I actually tear some pages to save specific places that I can open up to quickly. (Yes, I know what you're thinking, bibliophiles, but that’s just who I am. Don’t bother me about this.) Anyway, this book is now a mess, but I cannot help but flip through it, so soon after having finished it, and finding my favorite lines . . . which inhabit almost every page.“On some deep level, the realization that I could do good science was accompanied by the knowledge that I had formally and terminally missed my chance to become like any of the women that I had ever known.” Hope Jahren’s memoir captures who she is from a very young child and takes the reader to the present. She skillfully allows us to watch her behavior and deduce many of the facts that eventually come to light as the story progresses.The most delicious part of this book is Jahren’s use of intermittent chapters which describe plant life but is more of a vehicle for describing “life” in general. “It turns out that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to turn into a hundred-year-old tree: there are only ways that work and ways that do not.” She is brilliant! “Production of the new generation comes at a significant cost to the parent [plant], and you can see it in a cornfield, even from a distance.” Yes, yes, I nod in agreement as I read it and make my two little rips to bend back the page.This story is also a page-turner, one in which the readers want to know what happens next and become so invested in the characters we are brought to tears at times and silent cheers at others. I wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good read and a superbly written story! --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.no/products/39521023-lab-girl-a-memoir](https://www.desertcart.no/products/39521023-lab-girl-a-memoir) --- *Product available on Desertcart Norway* *Store origin: NO* *Last updated: 2026-09-17*