From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot

Start date: December 1, 2018

Finish date: December 30, 2018

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: The diversity topic we will cover in December is Disease & Illness.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks b…more
[close] The diversity topic we will cover in December is Disease & Illness.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

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What Members Thought

Mar 30, 2019 Melania 🍒 rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

3,8/5

10 likes · Like · see review

Nov 01, 2016 Jess Penhallow rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: usa, 21st-century, 1940s, 1960s, 1950s

This is a very important book for any scientist who works with people (or parts of people). We always need to ensure that the needs of our participants are put first and that they have a complete understanding of what they are taking part in particularly those in often neglected communities.

This book really affected me and I highly recommend it.

5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2017 Toni FGMAMTC rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, biographical, history, african-american, medical, science

I starting reading this without knowing what it was about, and it's a real doozy. It's about a woman who's cells are responsible for much of our medicines and medical knowledge of today. I guess the topic is bioethics. Her background and the life of her family after her death are given. There's so much moral conflict surround their situation and no clear cut answers for these situations going forward. The author does a great job of showing all sides of the matter. Very interesting and thought pr ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 24, 2016 Susan Bazzett-Griffith rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoirs-biography, psych-soc-fem-pop, politics-economy-history

This book, about the woman whose cancer cells were the origin of the HeLa cell line used in medicine and science around the globe, was not at all what I thought it would be. It is not, in any way, a traditional biography, but rather an interesting interspersion of science, history, and one family's story and experience of love, loss, poverty and racism.

The book delves much deeper into science, the science of cells, of DNA, of cell culture, of immunology, of cancer than I was expecting, and I fo This book, about the woman whose cancer cells were the origin of the HeLa cell line used in medicine and science around the globe, was not at all what I thought it would be. It is not, in any way, a traditional biography, but rather an interesting interspersion of science, history, and one family's story and experience of love, loss, poverty and racism.

The book delves much deeper into science, the science of cells, of DNA, of cell culture, of immunology, of cancer than I was expecting, and I found myself grateful for the classes I took in high school and college in biology and genetics, or I imagine I would have been lost a lot. That said, oddly, since I'm not generally a science person, this may have been my favorite part of the book, as I found it completely fascinating, and Skloot explains the science in a way that is comprehensible, though not necessarily easy, for people who aren't deeply entrenched in the lexicon of biology and medicine-- a difficult and commendable feat.

The amount of history, too, was again, surprising. Not only does Skloot obviously portray the story of Henrietta and her family, but she dives deep into the history of John Hopkins Medicine, deep into the history of Crownsville Hospital, deep into the history of slavery and sharecropping of the mid atlantic states. She tells of the history of medical experimentation, the history of consent laws (and lack thereof), the history of copyright information, the history of science itself. For one book, the amount of research and broadness of scope of information that can be gleaned from reading it, is beyond impressive.

And under all that history and science, there is a story with profound heart and soul- of Henrietta Lacks, a daughter, sister, mother, wife-- who suffered and died too young. The story of her children and her family and her grandchildren, and all they have survived. It is a story worth telling, if one that I found, overall, fairly depressing and sad.

Honestly, four stars isn't exactly a fair assessment of this book, as I didn't REALLY like it- I did like it; however, I feel like the education I received reading it, and the brush up on my biology knowledge, makes it imperative of a bump up on the rating scale. It is, ultimately, a really good book. Four stars. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 24, 2020 Caleb rated it it was amazing

Shelves: african-american-nonfiction, favorites, science, 2020-favs

Donate to the Henrietta Lacks Foundation! I’m glad to hear corporate entities are sending funds to her progeny!!!

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2013 Niv marked it as to-read

Dec 11, 2013 Saba Maroof rated it it was amazing

Jan 26, 2014 Julie rated it liked it

Apr 06, 2014 Leslie rated it really liked it

Jul 05, 2014 Paulette Brown marked it as to-read

Jan 23, 2015 Shirley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, owned, kindle-book, female-author, ebook

Mar 11, 2015 Aneisa Ford marked it as to-read

Jul 29, 2016 Mary Beth Weidman marked it as to-read

Sep 05, 2016 Hannah rated it it was amazing

Sep 18, 2016 Jan marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: american, memoir-biography, african-american-experience, nonfiction, science

Mar 09, 2017 Arielle Vanessa marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 10, 2017 Michael rated it it was amazing

Jul 18, 2017 Alicia marked it as to-read

Sep 05, 2017 Hannah marked it as to-read

Sep 27, 2017 Gina Rojas marked it as to-read

Feb 10, 2018 Catherine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, diverse-reads, 2018, audiobooks

3 likes · Like

May 17, 2018 Kara Ayers marked it as to-read

Sep 23, 2019 Valyssia Leigh rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography-memoir, format-audio, non-fiction, author-female, award-audie, protagonist-female, science, book-club-bb, history, published-decade-2010s

2 likes · Like