Lab Girl

In 2001, Jahren encounters Clint, “the most beautiful man [she] had ever seen” (205), at a party and asks him out via email. They have a three-hour dinner and move to a pub where they discuss their shared experiences at Berkeley. Afterwards, they go back to his apartment in a taxi. Jahren convinces Clint to quit his D.C. job and move in with her in Baltimore. As a mathematician, he gets a job at Johns Hopkins researching the deep Earth. That summer, the two take a trip to Norway, which morphs into “an impromptu wedding party” (208). When they return, they tell Bill who is slightly “conflicted” (209).

Of their relationship, Jahren says:“We love each other because we can’t help it” (207).They go on to have twins and “live like in the movies […] and it is better than a movie, because it doesn’t end” (207).

Jahren observes that plants grow in different fashions and at different rates. The corn plant displays a “lazy-S curve” (210), by growing slowly, shooting up, then dropping off again. Other growth curves resemble a pulse, a low arc, or a pyramid. These growth curves allow farmers to guess a good harvest date for their plants.