Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Ratings338
Average rating4.2
I finished this one in one long gulp in a London to San Francisco flight and came off the plane feeling it all the way in my fingers and toes. I think I have always loved science writing because while I loved science, the math of it evaded me, and to access the curiosities of the subject I've always had to go in through the side door of the scientists and subjects themselves. This is one of the best and most intimate books of that nature I've ever read. Given the endless impact of Henrietta Lacks and her cells on medicine and science, I can't believe I went through my entire life without knowing anything about her. Absolutely everybody should read this. It can be grisly at times, but this book is hugely eye-opening and wonderfully researched.
Really fascinating book with a great balence of ethics and science! Would definitely re-read
4.5/5 stars
Re-reading for the 2nd time & our first pick for our Movable Feast Book Group @ CPL.
The story is sad and fascinating and maddening, but the writing is repetitive after a while, making it hard to finish. I think everyone even remotely connected to molecular biology should read it.
Amazing book that integrates the life of one woman into the lives of millions. Also, I think it should be required reading for all future research and medical professionals - it's definitely better than any HIPAA/ethics training.
Informative story detailing the life of the person behind the HeLa cells. I have no medical background but this book helped me learn not just about the medicine/research side of cells but more importantly, how black people were continued to be treated as second class citizens and test subjects.
Thanks to random YouTube rabbit holes, I was somewhat familiar with Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells going into this book. Had I realized there was a book at the time, I would have read this a lot sooner. The book discusses Henrietta Lacks' life and death, the discovery of her extraordinary cells, the controversy surrounding the acquisition of those cells, and the author's quest to make this woman known to the world. There's also a great deal of focus on Henrietta's children and the impact of her death and legacy on them. There's a great mix of science and emotional family history. I do wish that the book had separated these things more, maybe telling Henrietta's life all in one section before moving on to the author's pursuit of her story (or vice versa). As it is, the first section of the book is back and forth from past to present. Thankfully, it smoothes out as the book goes on and the focus shifts to the present and her living children. Fascinating stuff here. It's mind-blowing to me that anyone reading the book could access these cells at the click of a button. It breaks my heart that her family didn't receive any of the revenue, especially when they had their own medical bills to pay. Even without the discovery of HeLa cells, their family story is one to be told.
This is an extraordinary interweaving story of the life and humanity of Henrietta Lacks, the lives of her children and extended family, the impact of her cells on science and health, and the investigation by the author in trying to learn all these things. Despite all those many aspects to navigate, Skloot has managed to write in such a way that the reader can follow all the threads. She honors the Lacks family's stories while being honest about the challenges they've faced. She explains the science in an understandable way. And she surfaces the complex ethical questions about the impact of race in this story and ultimately who should own HeLa cells without providing pat answers.
Cool, now I'm pissed. If you're using something that came from a person for science stuff-or using a person themselves to freaking experiment on-you explain until they understand, and you get permission to do so. This is like, Ethics 101. And if there's a Major Scientific Breakthrough from what you took from that person, you may not be obligated to compensate them, but frankly you're kind of a monster if you don't. Even the most basic human decency says you let them know, and you don't leave their family to die in poverty while you get awards and grants.
I actually finished this a while ago and forgot to update Goodreads. Good book and great bookclub discussion followed!
The first nonfiction book that genuinely interested me and shook me to the core. A MUST-READ for everyone.
A few weeks ago Matt and I were driving to North Carolina and I was having a bit of a meltdown about how not one single thing in our country is okay and everything is terrible and all the things are interconnected so how on earth are we going to be able to sort out this giant mess.
Matt said, you can't think of a single thing that we're doing well here? I said I was having a hard time thinking of anything, and he said, well, we've made great strides in cancer research, it's not always a death sentence anymore.
I agreed with him, but mostly to get him to stop talking. Because yes, I know it's not always a death sentence, but it seems like most of the treatments are still fairly terrible and also ... I don't know any scientists, most of the people I'm around regularly are engineers of various spots, and so how many people could actually be scientists doing cancer research, it couldn't possibly be that many.
Matt and I were having a coffee date yesterday, and I was reading this book, and at one point I looked up at him and said, remember that conversation about cancer research? I didn't believe you, that this was as big an industry as it is, that scientists worldwide are working on this. And he was like, uh yeah this is a multi-billion dollar industry! And I'm like yeah yeah I didn't believe you knew what you were talking about, but I do now.
Of course, there are lots of ethical problems with how we've made those strides... and I'm going to be thinking about that for a while. I'm glad Skloot also included stories of other people trying to sue for their tissue rights, and about the complicated ethics of tissue storage from normal people. The legal issues were fascinating.
This book taught me a lot of things about a lot of things I didn't know, and I'm glad I read it. Skloot wrote in a straightforward and engaging manner that helped me to understand subjects I had never heard of before, and helped me to not mix up a huge cast of characters. An excellent book.
This book is not what I was expecting. It does give the basic scientific background necessary to understand the story, and a little more than basics are presented so that someone who isn't a biologist but already gets the basics can still enjoy it and learn from it. It's got a lot of info about the family and how they have been affected by the cells, also. This is a very interesting true story presented in a very readable manner. It's a story I think everyone should know, especially because there are countless others like it that no one has written a book about. This one is pretty monumental for medicine, though.
Great – and very emotional – story of what happened to Henrietta Lacks and her family, how it changed the course of medicine, and how medical research STILL needs some work on ethics.
A lovely story told through the eyes of science and a family caught up in the results of medical experimentation.
A fascinating insight into both the life of Henrietta Lacks and her HeLa cells which have contributed so much to modern medicine.
I enjoyed the beginning of the book but near the middle I just become so bored and I had to just trudge through until the end.
Just the right mix of science and history and family. Lovely story of family, learning to cope, and acceptance. Heart wrenching and heart warming. So much honesty. I really learned about how they felt and who they were. Science never happens without affecting people. Here we see that.
Exceptional. Skloot skillfully presents the science, the ethical issues, and most especially the complex human perspectives. It's really hard to convey how delightful and worthwhile this book is.
This book is really a great fun read. Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman behind the HeLa cells, and tries to give the reader, as well as the Lack's family, a view of what Henrietta's life was before her fame with HeLa. It was nice to see the relationship between Deborah, Henrietta's daughter, and Rebecca form, and to see that the Lack's would learn that not everyone was out to get them. I wish that they were able to get more recognition for Henrietta, and I would like to see that happen in the future. I'm sure this book has helped out with that, and its great that a foundation was set up for the children and family of Henrietta Lacks. It's also great that this book also teaches the reader about cells, and how scientists and researchers usually save our “unwanted” and “discarded” cells for potential use in the future. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn and have an enjoyable book to read about an important woman who has changed science for the better.
I doubt that I can say anything about this book that hasn't already been said better by others. Basically, I think this is non-fiction at its very best: a book that, in telling a story long-hidden and very much needing to be told, serves the pursuit of social justice.
The science aspect is interesting, but the stories about the family are what make it worth four stars.