6.29.2011

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I just finished reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebeca Skloot.  I'm not usually a science-y kind of person but I thought this book was fascinating.  It was the perfect mix of scientific information and the story of Henrietta's family.  A sliver of Henrietta's tumor was taken for research without her knowledge and later her cells were the first to ever grow in a laboratory.  They have been used for all kinds of valuable medical research  and are worth millions of dollars now.  Henrietta's family didn't find out about her famous and valuable cells until decades later.  They lived in poverty and were mostly uneducated so they struggled to understand the significance of Henrietta's cells.  The book brings up very interesting issues but at the same time isn't too heavy.  Truly, it was a marvelous way to start my summer reading.

2 comments:

Suzie Soda said...

We read this for book club. it was good. xoxo

Lauren@ "Happiness is..." said...

Sounds like a good read! I need a good book so I'll have to check this one out!