It's a novel by Andrea Barrett, but it's not about scientists or even lab assistants. Who knew that Barrett wrote about anyone other than scientists and lab assistants? This novel is about people. Oh, the novel is named after a popular science book, but this is weak sauce if you were hoping for another novel about scientists. The novel itself is quite satisfactory, once you get past the fact that it's not about scientists. But I'm not sure what to say about it. This book compares our thoughts/hopes versus reality; it's a relationship like that of parallax, the distortion that occurs when you look from the air into water... oh gee, I can't believe I'm talking about this. This book is literature. If you want metaphors and themes and stuff like that, this book has them in abundance. It's a fun read if you're into spotting those things.
I once listened to William Golding read Lord of the Flies with a short commentary after each chapter. He often seemed surprised at all the allegories and themes that readers took away from it: "I just wanted to write a book about a bunch of boys stranded on an island."