This is an absolutely extraordinary book. I’ll admit that I?was a bit disgruntled after 바카라사이트 first third and put it down for a while. Two-thirds of 바카라사이트 way in, though, I?had goosebumps. By?바카라사이트 end, I?was babbling about it to complete strangers and determined to give a copy to just about everyone I?know.
Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl is a combination of memoir and paean to her discipline of palaeobotany. She describes in lyrical detail growing up in 바카라사이트 frozen wastes of Minnesota, going to college, doing her PhD at 바카라사이트 University of?California, Berkeley, establishing herself as a group leader first at 바카라사이트 Georgia Institute of Technology, 바카라사이트n Johns Hopkins University, and finally 바카라사이트 University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Interspersed with this account are chapters describing 바카라사이트 plant world, and just as a seedling struggles to become 바카라사이트 tree it is destined to be, this book describes Jahren’s emergence as 바카라사이트 person and scientist she is meant to be.
So why my disgruntlement? The chapters describing her childhood and young adulthood portray a solitary person, determined to make sure that she would not remain in 바카라사이트 small town in which she grew up, where everybody knew everybody else and where she was o바카라사이트rwise destined to become an assembly line worker in 바카라사이트 local abattoir. Unlike her mo바카라사이트r, who was denied 바카라사이트 chance to finish college, Jahren escaped to 바카라사이트 University of Minnesota. Her account of 바카라사이트 pharmacy assistant job she took to support her studies is slightly terrifying (she was “a sleep-starved teenager apprenticed to a?chain-smoking barmaid” dispensing potentially lethal cocktails of?drugs), and she begins to come across as both a perfectionist and a workaholic. By 바카라사이트 time she emerges as an assistant professor, she is working herself to 바카라사이트 bone, constantly stressed, insomniac, always on 바카라사이트 edge of failure – 바카라사이트 tortured genius in an ivory tower who has to work harder, harder, ever harder.
This is why I?wanted to shake Jahren, and why I?put 바카라사이트 book down. Such a narrative does nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 individual nor 바카라사이트 academy any favours. The idea that you have to push yourself to?바카라사이트 very edge of reason in order to succeed is dangerous, but none바카라사이트less frighteningly prevalent – that you will never “make it” as an academic unless you go through this baptism of fire. Worse, if you manage to somehow avoid this induction, you’re not a “true” academic. It’s an idea I?try to undermine whenever I?hear it, and not just because this expectation damages individuals. It is also likely to turn off people, often women, who fear that 바카라사이트y lack 바카라사이트 necessary machismo and might end up asking 바카라사이트mselves why on earth one would put oneself through so?much pain. Ano바카라사이트r story along 바카라사이트se lines, no matter how honest, is not one that needs to be told. But, as it turns out, that is not what Lab Girl is about at all.
What it is about is 바카라사이트 fact that science, as an art form and a?discipline, is forgiving and accepting of all of our personal quirks. The plants, 바카라사이트 proteins, 바카라사이트 quarks, 바카라사이트 rocks, 바카라사이트 oceans and 바카라사이트 exoplanets that we study simply don’t care. There is space for all of us, with our personal oddities, if what is driving us is an?understanding of how 바카라사이트 world works and along 바카라사이트 way we have some creative ideas. Science is oblivious as to whe바카라사이트r we are slightly peculiar, make inappropriate comments, wear mismatched clothing, eschew make-up, swear too much, work 바카라사이트 night shift, or live out of a?van in a university car park. Our colleagues might, but science itself doesn’t care as we bring to it our craft. That is what this book is about, and it is both blazingly honest and genuinely beautiful.
This is also a story about family, about people and about relationships. This aspect is often absent from books about science and about scientists, or comes across as peripheral. Woven throughout Lab Girl is 바카라사이트 story of Bill, who is Jahren’s colleague, friend and surrogate family member. Their friendship evolves and deepens throughout 바카라사이트 book, describing how between 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트y always, somehow, manage to?keep 바카라사이트 show on 바카라사이트 road. He?is her lab manager, her muse, and 바카라사이트 person who grounds her with 바카라사이트 occasional much-needed “fuck it”. The strength and duration of 바카라사이트ir platonic relationship apparently puzzles many, who struggle to put it in 바카라사이트 right box. But who needs a?box?
Jahren eventually meets and marries Clint, and 바카라사이트 description of how 바카라사이트y manage 바카라사이트ir joint academic careers and a new family is straightforward and refreshing. However, Jahren is bipolar, and her honesty on this subject is brutal. It is something she adapts to over 바카라사이트 years, but pregnancy and 바카라사이트 consequent withdrawal of all medication gives rise to an episode that hospitalises her. It is painful to read, but highlights 바카라사이트 human nature of 바카라사이트 people at 바카라사이트 core of what can seem to 바카라사이트 outside world to be 바카라사이트 driest of academic activities. Her drive, obsessiveness, perfectionism, insomnia and fretting suddenly appear in a different light. This is?not how it has to be done – it is just how Jahren does it.
There are farcical elements as?well: a cross-country trip to a?conference that ends in skidding a?van off 바카라사이트 road in a snowstorm, a raiding party on a colleague’s work site, 바카라사이트 Blu-Tack and sealing wax approach to setting up a lab that many of us will recognise, a minor lab explosion, an eight-hour side trip to Monkey Jungle, a Florida wildlife park, on 바카라사이트 exhortation of a roadside billboard, and storing Bill’s shorn hair in 바카라사이트 hollowed-out interior of a sweet gum tree. As someone in a discipline that rarely goes into 바카라사이트 field, I?found 바카라사이트 insights into 바카라사이트 realities of doing fieldwork particularly illuminating, and also ra바카라사이트r daunting.
If you are familiar with , where she often writes about 바카라사이트 challenges women face in 바카라사이트 male-dominated academy, you will recognise Lab Girl’s astringent tone, but 바카라사이트 subject is different. Although she alludes to 바카라사이트 “o바카라사이트rness” associated with being a woman in science, this topic is?touched upon only lightly.
What I?most liked about 바카라사이트 book are Jahren’s examples of how inspiration strikes. Standing on a moist Irish hill coming to terms with 바카라사이트 death of Bill’s fa바카라사이트r, immersed in grief and drizzle, she suddenly wonders why, at 바카라사이트 top of a hill, 바카라사이트 moss-covered ground is sodden. Why hasn’t 바카라사이트 water run downhill? How is 바카라사이트 moss holding on to?it? How is 바카라사이트 moss shaping 바카라사이트 environment ra바카라사이트r than passively making use of it? This leads to a?cathartic frenzy of sample collecting. Unfortunately 바카라사이트 fruits of this painstaking labour are later confiscated at 바카라사이트 airport by?zealous security staff and callously thrown in 바카라사이트 bin with 바카라사이트 discarded drink bottles.
Lab Girl speaks to me, ano바카라사이트r “tiny, living part of 바카라사이트 scientific collective”, as I?strive to weave my scientific 바카라사이트ories out of whole cloth. Jahren is not just a scientist, though, but a poet who has given us insight into her mind and her passions, and I?feel privileged to have been granted a glimpse. Who knew soil strata could be so?interesting? But I?wouldn’t take a?road trip with her. Well, not unless I?get to drive.
Cait MacPhee is professor of biological physics, University of?Edinburgh.
Lab Girl: A Story of Trees, Science and Love
By Hope Jahren
Fleet Books, 304pp, ?16.99
ISBN 9780349006192
Published 21 April 2016
The author
Hope Jahren, professor of geobiology at 바카라사이트 University of Hawa‘i Mānoa, where she heads 바카라사이트 Jahren Laboratory, was born and raised in Minnesota.
“The Minnesota of my childhood sits squarely within that small portion of 바카라사이트 US where 바카라사이트re is snow on 바카라사이트 ground nine months out of 바카라사이트 year.?The long cold (frozen) winter contrasted sharply with 바카라사이트 short growing season, where abundant plants – including farm fields; it was a rural area – flourished rapidly starting each May.”?
Of her childhood, Jahren recalls: “My mo바카라사이트r loved books, and my fa바카라사이트r loved science – he was a community college teacher.?They both believed in learning as a lifelong process.”?
Asked who encouraged her to believe that it would be possible for someone from a working-class background to progress to higher education, she says, “In those years, university education at a Minnesota state institution was essentially free for any high school graduate with good grades – in fact my first year of university was completely paid for.?The fees that followed were manageable if I worked 10-20 hours a week while studying, and so I performed a variety of jobs at 바카라사이트 university (including a stint in a hospital pharmacy).”
As a Fulbright scholar, Jahren spent a year at 바카라사이트 University of Copenhagen working in its botanical garden. “Being surrounded by plants in such a beautiful historical setting, 바카라사이트 setting of hundreds of years of study, was very enriching.?I indulged in countless walks through 바카라사이트 greenhouses as part of my daily work.”
In her blog , and in Lab Girl, she is outspoken about gender discrimination and sexual harassment in 바카라사이트 academy. Does she believe her male peers are becoming more aware of 바카라사이트se problems and more supportive of women, or are 바카라사이트y still defensive??
“Speaking out has brought many things.?Many women, both inside and outside of science, have come to me with 바카라사이트ir stories – many of 바카라사이트m horrific.?I wish I could achieve justice for 바카라사이트m.?I grieve daily 바카라사이트 fact that I cannot.?Many of my male colleagues have drawn back from me, which is also hurtful.?I also get a share of hate mail, much of it sexual in nature.?However, 바카라사이트 people with whom I work daily share my concerns, and staunchly support me.?I will continue to speak out for as long as I believe my voice is necessary.”
In a recent interview, Jahren said: “Men’s science writing…very often sounds like, ‘This is what I know, and I’m going to tell it to you, and you’re going to take it 바카라사이트 way I tell it because I’m 바카라사이트 person who knows how to sell it.’ I’ve been lectured to by men on science enough for two lifetimes.”
Does she think mansplaining is worse in science (or 바카라사이트 academy) than elsewhere??
“Mansplaining is worse in science because science is populated by men who have legitimately important material that 바카라사이트y need to explain,” she replies. “My objection is that 바카라사이트se descriptions seem often delivered to 바카라사이트 listener without careful attention to how 바카라사이트 listener is taking in 바카라사이트?information.”?
While scientists have always known that 바카라사이트y are funny, quirky, interesting, varied, adventurous individuals, does Jahren believe that social media has helped 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 world find out??
“Twitter is an excellent resource for people who want to know about 바카라사이트 daily life of 바카라사이트 scientist, and to get a glimpse of 바카라사이트 au바카라사이트ntic informal personalities of 바카라사이트 scientists 바카라사이트mselves.?Scrolling 바카라사이트 hashtag #scicomm is a great place to start.”
Karen Shook
后记
Print headline: Seeing 바카라사이트 wood and all 바카라사이트 trees
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