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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by
Listening length: 12 hours and 30 minutes
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she ...more
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she ...more
Audible Audio, Unabridged, 13 pages
Published
February 2nd 2010
by Random House Audio
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Start your review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The doorbell rang the other day and when I answered it, there was a very slick guy in a nice suit standing there and a limousine parked at the curb. He started shaking my hand and wormed his way into the house.
“Mr. Kemper, I’m John Doe with Dee-Bag Industries Incorporated. I need you to sign some paperwork and take a ride with me. Don’t worry, I’ll have you home in a day or two,” he said. Then he pulled a document out of his briefcase, set it on the coffee table and pushed a pen in my hand.
“Wai ...more
“Mr. Kemper, I’m John Doe with Dee-Bag Industries Incorporated. I need you to sign some paperwork and take a ride with me. Don’t worry, I’ll have you home in a day or two,” he said. Then he pulled a document out of his briefcase, set it on the coffee table and pushed a pen in my hand.
“Wai ...more

Nov 21, 2010
Petra in 4 days may have a bf fingers crossed
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
This is an all-gold five star read.
It's actually two stories, the story of the HeLa cells and the story of the Lacks family told by a journalist who writes the first story objectively and the second, in which she is involved, subjectively. The contrast between the poor Lacks family who cannot afford their medical bills and the research establishment who have made millions, maybe billions from these cells is ironic and tragic. It has been established by other law cases that if the family had gone ...more
It's actually two stories, the story of the HeLa cells and the story of the Lacks family told by a journalist who writes the first story objectively and the second, in which she is involved, subjectively. The contrast between the poor Lacks family who cannot afford their medical bills and the research establishment who have made millions, maybe billions from these cells is ironic and tragic. It has been established by other law cases that if the family had gone ...more

Mar 17, 2016
Emily May
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
nonfiction,
2016
“She's the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother is so important to science, why can't we get health insurance?”
I've moved this book on and off my TBR for years. The truth is that, with few exceptions, I'm generally turned off by the thought of non-fiction. I'm a fan of fictional stories, and I think I've always felt that non-fiction will be dry, boring and difficult to get through. Especially a book about science, cells and medicine when I'm more ...more

On October 4, 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a thirty-one-year old black woman, died after a gruesome battle with a rapidly metastasizing cancer. During her treatment, the doctors at Johns Hopkins took some cells from her failing body and used them for research. This was not an unusual thing to have done in 1951. But the cells that came from Ms. Lacks’ body were unusual. They had qualities that made them uniquely valuable as research tools. Labeled “HeLa”, Henrietta’s cells were reproduced by the billio
...more

This was a really good book that leaves one with more questions than it answers, especially at this moment with the explosion in investment and growth in health/biotech. A lot of those questions are ones I wouldn't know how to answer myself either. I think it's really important though that we all start grappling with and instituting better processes around things like informed consent. Also really horrible to think about this in larger societal terms, in the context of institutional racism, and
...more

Fascinating and Thought-Provoking.
Strengths:
*Fantastically interesting subject!
One woman's cancerous cells are multiplied and distributed around the globe enabling a new era of cellular research and fueling incredible advances in scientific methodology, technology, and medical treatments. This strain of cells, named HeLa (after Henrietta Lacks their originator), has been amazingly prolific and has become integrated into advancements of science around the world (space travel, genome research, ...more
Strengths:
*Fantastically interesting subject!
One woman's cancerous cells are multiplied and distributed around the globe enabling a new era of cellular research and fueling incredible advances in scientific methodology, technology, and medical treatments. This strain of cells, named HeLa (after Henrietta Lacks their originator), has been amazingly prolific and has become integrated into advancements of science around the world (space travel, genome research, ...more

This could have been an incredible book. Henrietta Lacks' story is finally told--and Skloot makes very clear how important Lacks' cells have been to the last 60 years of science and, paradoxically, how much Henrietta and her family suffered because those cells were taken from Henrietta without her consent.
But in her effort to contrast the importance and profitability of Henrietta's cells with the marginalization and impoverishment of Henrietta's family, Skloot makes three really big mistakes. F ...more
But in her effort to contrast the importance and profitability of Henrietta's cells with the marginalization and impoverishment of Henrietta's family, Skloot makes three really big mistakes. F ...more

4.5 stars.
A young black mother dies of cervical cancer in 1950 and unbeknownst to her becomes the impetus for many medical advances through the decades that follow because of the cancer cells that were taken without her permission. This book evokes so many thoughts and feelings, sometimes at odds with one another. It is thought provoking and informative in the details and heartbreaking in the rendering of the personal story of Henrietta Lacks. I was madder than hell that people/companies made l ...more
A young black mother dies of cervical cancer in 1950 and unbeknownst to her becomes the impetus for many medical advances through the decades that follow because of the cancer cells that were taken without her permission. This book evokes so many thoughts and feelings, sometimes at odds with one another. It is thought provoking and informative in the details and heartbreaking in the rendering of the personal story of Henrietta Lacks. I was madder than hell that people/companies made l ...more

My thoughts on this book are kind of all over the place. I feel for the Lacks family, I really do. It's hard to read about the poverty and lack of education and the cavalier approach towards informed consent in the early days of Johns Hopkins Research Hospital. The fact that the HeLa cell line is the foundation of so much valuable research is rightfully a source of pride for the family of Henrietta Lacks. I don't think they will ever see monetary compensation for their mother's cancer cell line,
...more

Nov 06, 2020
Dr. Appu Sasidharan
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
medicine
(Throwback Review) This is a book about Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken without her knowledge, which later came to be known as HeLa cells, which is considered as one of the most important landmarks in Cancer research.
Some interesting topics discussed in this book
Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1950's
Johns Hopkins Hospital is one of the best hospitals in the USA. It was built in 1889 as a charity hospital for the sick and poor in Baltimore. In the 1950s, Hopkins' public ...more



Some interesting topics discussed in this book
Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1950's
Johns Hopkins Hospital is one of the best hospitals in the USA. It was built in 1889 as a charity hospital for the sick and poor in Baltimore. In the 1950s, Hopkins' public ...more

This is a very powerful and informative story. Also, with the history of personal freedoms, civil rights, and right to privacy/requiring consent, this is a very important books. I am not sure the details about the science involved in the story will appeal to all. Just the same as how those who are here for the science may be disinterested in the background stories of the people involved. But, if you think you will like one of the other, I don’t think the one you don’t care for will be distractin
...more

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an extraordinary book. By turns it is shocking, informative and tragic. There is brilliance - but also deep injustice. It is in part an account of the development of genetics, part social commentary, and partly the story of one woman, Henrietta Lacks. She was an African-American woman descended from slaves and one white slave-owner (Lacks), and she lived as many hundreds of black people still did even as late as the 1950's, in poverty in an old slave-cabin
...more

When I was a graduate student in the field of Ethics, one of my favorite pedagogical strategies, as both a teacher and a student, was the case study. A good case study can make an abstract ethical issue more concrete. A really good case study can turn a deeply contentious issue into an opportunity for thoughtfulness and compassion; right and wrong (to the extent that those concepts even belong in the study of ethics) are nuanced by descriptions of circumstances or values or human need that can m
...more

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010) is a non-fiction book by American author Rebecca Skloot.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine.
The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dea ...more
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010) is a non-fiction book by American author Rebecca Skloot.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine.
The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dea ...more

Oct 07, 2016
Matt
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Matt by:
SoMany
Shelves:
audiobook,
buddy-read
There are some books that I finish and am left in awe, questioning everything that I thought I knew on a subject. Or, as is the case hear, having learned so much about which I knew nothing. My jaw is still on the floor after I finished this book and I can only imagine the controversies and discussions it might provoke. A thank you goes out to three Goodreads friends who recommended that I read this book and open an avenue for discussion. Aven, Brenda, and Rae, I hope we can begin a wild and intr
...more

Overall, a four star read that should probably be required reading for both biology and American history classes. (Actually, it was a far more interesting read than that makes it sound).
While I had heard a great deal of buzz on the book, I wasn't prepared for how the story evolved. The book alternates between Henrietta Lacks' personal history, that of her family, a little of medical history and Skoot's actual pursuit of the story, which helps develop the story in historical context. Skoots incl ...more
While I had heard a great deal of buzz on the book, I wasn't prepared for how the story evolved. The book alternates between Henrietta Lacks' personal history, that of her family, a little of medical history and Skoot's actual pursuit of the story, which helps develop the story in historical context. Skoots incl ...more

When a poor woman dies of cervical cancer in 1951, her cancerous cells live on. But what happens when her biological material generates billions of dollars for the drug and pharmaceutical industry, leaving her dirt poor descendants in the lurch?
Yeah, I know I wrote that like the teaser for one of my mysteries but the only mystery here is how people who have profited from the diseased cells that killed a woman can sleep at night while her kids and grand kids don't have two nickels to rub together ...more
Yeah, I know I wrote that like the teaser for one of my mysteries but the only mystery here is how people who have profited from the diseased cells that killed a woman can sleep at night while her kids and grand kids don't have two nickels to rub together ...more

The gift of life is surely the greatest gift of all. So how can the story of the remarkable woman who gave that gift over and over again to millions of people have been overlooked for so long?
In 1951 a poor African American woman in Maryland became an uninformed donor to medical science. Henrietta Lacks died at age 31 of cervical cancer at John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore. Then doctors discovered that tumor cells they had removed from her body earlier continued to thrive in the lab - a medical ...more
In 1951 a poor African American woman in Maryland became an uninformed donor to medical science. Henrietta Lacks died at age 31 of cervical cancer at John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore. Then doctors discovered that tumor cells they had removed from her body earlier continued to thrive in the lab - a medical ...more

This book has been an incredible read! Clearly, a result of hard work and intense research and, above all the fact that the author has taken student loans and used her credit cards for the research work and had no other backing or support.
The story of Henrietta Lacks is a required read for all, specifically for those interested in life and science.
The story of Henrietta Lacks is a required read for all, specifically for those interested in life and science.

This 2010 work of non-fiction regarding THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS is a sad story and a tough, draining read that shocked me more than once along the way.
Henrietta was a poor black woman only 31 years of age when she died of cervical cancer leaving five children behind, her youngest, Deborah, just a baby. Her story is a heartbreaking one, but also an important one as her cancer cells, forever to be known as HeLa taken without her consent or knowledge, saved thousands of lives.
Through t
...more
Aug 17, 2011
Rachel
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone in a white coat
Recommended to Rachel by:
NYT
Full disclosure: I come to this book from a weirdly fortuitous place. Take my brief, but mind-searing, stint in gynecologic oncology research ca. 2002, which involved a weekly trek to the OR to pick up still-warm tumors, with the women who informedly consented to donate them often open on the table as I did so. Then throw in two years working in a tissue culture hood, two more in a narrative nonfiction book group, and another big chunk of time studying infectious diseases. Mix in interests in so
...more

I've started and erased my little book commentary so many times because this story is so overwhelming and so important on multiple levels, I'm not sure anything I could say about it would do justice to the complexity and dichotomy of the story surrounding Henrietta Lacks. It might not be far from the truth to state that she was the most important person who ever lived. A physical part of her body has saved hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of lives, and improved the lives of countless oth
...more

I do believe this book must have scored near the top of all books used in college courses these last 5-6 years - from English to history and social sciences, but I wonder how much traction it got in medical school and across the healthcare and medical research fields. It quickly became a "classic" because so many issues are covered: race, class, gender, genetics, property rights, and about the social ends of science and our technological choices. As well, it's a story of how some people are used
...more

I am late to this book party, but let me explain: I get twitchy about medical stuff. Earlier this year I had to abandon Rosemary Mahoney's book about the blind because it described an eye surgery. I have never been able to finish Dr. Atul Gawande's Complications because of its description of medical procedures. It was a small miracle that I was able to finish the Call the Midwife series, because I hate childbirth scenes.
When this Henrietta Lacks book started tearing up the bestseller lists a fe ...more
When this Henrietta Lacks book started tearing up the bestseller lists a fe ...more

Jan 25, 2013
Suzanne Leopold (Suzy Approved Book Reviews)
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
April 22nd will be a film on HBO !!!

This book irritated me from the beginning. It couldn't decide if it was a history of the cells, the life story of one woman, a chronicle of how an author tracks down the life story of a woman, a position paper on racism, a position paper on human tissue ownership, or a position paper on disorganized rhetoric.
I think it was all of those, and it drove me absolutely up the wall.
As a history of the HeLa cells ... I read a Wired article that was better.
As the life story of Henrietta Lacks ... it rea ...more
I think it was all of those, and it drove me absolutely up the wall.
As a history of the HeLa cells ... I read a Wired article that was better.
As the life story of Henrietta Lacks ... it rea ...more

Jul 02, 2010
Christina
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
book-club-books,
non-fiction
This was an interesting read. While I applaud Skloot's attempt to present a fair look at the history of the HeLa cell line used in research labs all over the world, the book is clearly skewed toward sympathy for the family. Not that they don't deserve sympathy, but really, the problems of the family is NOT the fault of anyone involved with the cell line. Don't get me wrong, Henrietta and her family have had a hard life, and they do deserve some sympathy. But not for this particular issue.
The sad ...more
The sad ...more

A lot to process with this book. This book's been out for a while, so I'm just going to put down a bunch of thoughts rattling around in my head, and probably leave it at that:
-legacy left by slavery and how it affected Henrietta Lacks and the members of her family, and African Americans in general (where they lived, what kind of employment was available to them, the quality of education available to them, the history of abuse and violence, and the impact on their mental health, and the quality a ...more
-legacy left by slavery and how it affected Henrietta Lacks and the members of her family, and African Americans in general (where they lived, what kind of employment was available to them, the quality of education available to them, the history of abuse and violence, and the impact on their mental health, and the quality a ...more

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (ILHL), Skloot blends the Lacks' family history with that of medical sciences and all against a backdrop of systemic racism.
For decades, her cell line, named HeLa, has far eclipsed the woman of their origin. Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 as the ninth child of Eliza and Johnny Pleasant in Roanoke, Virginia. When Eliza died after birthing her tenth child in 1924, the family was divided amongst the larger network of relatives who pitched in to raise the c ...more
For decades, her cell line, named HeLa, has far eclipsed the woman of their origin. Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 as the ninth child of Eliza and Johnny Pleasant in Roanoke, Virginia. When Eliza died after birthing her tenth child in 1924, the family was divided amongst the larger network of relatives who pitched in to raise the c ...more
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Rebecca Skloot is an award winning science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; Discover; and many other publications. She specializes in narrative science writing and has explored a wide range of topics, including goldfish surgery, tissue ownership rights, race and medicine, food politics, and packs of wild dogs in Manhattan. She has worked as a co
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“She's the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother is so important to science, why can't we get health insurance?”
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