Summary

“Part Two, Wood and Knots,” Chapter 1, opens with Jahren talking about the southern part of the United States. She describes the weather, which is optimal for plant growth. She compared that to her own life, saying that “every kind of growth seemed possible” (90).

In Chapter 2, Jahren and Bill spent many nights in the lab, repeatedly redesigning the “first Jahren Lab” (91). Bill spent most of his time in the lab. Jahren arrived one evening to find Bill there with Reba, Jahren's Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Both Jahren and Bill were in debt from their years in college, and they had recently found hamburgers for 25 cents each. They bought lots and froze them, thawing them as needed.

Bill and Jahren had spent time “doing organic carbon extractions” from rocks (94). Dinosaur bones have been studied extensively, but Bill and Jahren were working...