I loved this book so much. Back in my academic career, especially the last year, I was actually pretty close to Hope Jahren's field, plants, from the geophysics side. I even worked with a professor who just like her got the Macelwane medal (and was one of the reasons I left academia).
The book is a love story, but a love story with science against any reason. She and her eternal friend Bill figured out how to do the science they loved against sexism, the general hatred of science, shortage of money, situations they were not qualified to handle.
As beautiful as both the life story and the science parts of this book are, it makes me sad. I don't like how she glorifies working any waking moment of your life to be able to be in the field, because I strongly despise the way science works. I feel noone should work under these conditions, but it just shows how strong the people are that stay in it, how compassionate they are about learning and finding new facts and truths. There is a way strong romanticism in this way that despite everything made me a bit nostalgic.
The book does an amazing job of sharing this world. I'm despondent how much the world, and especially the US hate science, hate knowing things. We're living in a truly sad world.