'Leaves become elegant machines, soil is the interface between the living and the dead, and seeds, well, they are transformed into the most patient and hopeful of all life forms. Jahren has such a passion for the natural world that it's hard to imagine her in any role other than her current one . . . Lab Girl is her engaging new memoir, which tells the story of her fight to establish and fund her own research laboratory. And it's been a fascinating journey' Lucie Green, Observer 'Clear and compelling but also fiercely tender . . . Jahren refuses to pretend that scientists don't quite often come with more than their share of peculiarities. She captures so precisely the way they dress, talk, and occasionally misunderstand stuff that others take for granted . . . I love Jahren's enthusiasm for her work, an all-encompassing passion for which she won't apologise and which makes her indomitable' Rachel Cooke, New Statesman '[ Lab Girl ] does for botany what Oliver Sacks's essays did for neurology' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times 'A fascinating account of plants, love and obsession' Annabel Venning, Mail on Sunday