Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren

If you've ever stopped to look at a tree or a plant that has caught your eye, or you've ever had a friend you can't imagine life without, you owe it to yourself to read Lab Girl.
Hope Jahren is a geobiologist who studies plants, seeds and soil, and half this book is written from that point of view. Short chapters deal with how seeds survive hardship, what you can learn from ancient soil, and how much complexity is present in even the simplest-seeming plants. But the author is also female scientist in a male-dominated field, and half this book is a memoir about her life in science. She talks about growing up with a science-teacher father who let her explore freely in his classroom's lab, about amazing discoveries and heartbreaking loss in her scientific work and her career, but mostly she talks about Bill, her lab partner and best friend. Bill and Hope have triumphs and setbacks, living and working in sometimes challenging or untenable conditions, but always with their friendship and scientific discovery at the heart of it. This book makes you want to study science, be a more tenacious person and be a better friend. What more can you ask for?