From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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Why we're reading this
Nonfiction science

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What Members Thought

Cathy
May 07, 2015 rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
Important history of the woman behind HeLa, and well-researched. However, I was heartily tired of how all of the black people in the book that spoke were characterized as "yelling." Seriously, I realize that white Americans and black Americans may have different ways of communicating and expressing emotions, but everybody was not yelling all the time. Although this journalist really went the extra mile to uncover the story, the cultural divide shows in her writing, and it annoyed me to no end. ...more
Dana Berglund
Very interesting and thought provoking book about medical ethics, racism, personal responsibility, and legacy. It seems to be popping up in different media and conversations everywhere, so I was glad to finally understand what it was all about. I raged to friends who would listen about the inequity and injustice involved, but was left with many questions about how the medical professions/industry continues to treat human cells. The author has many resources and more information on her website, w ...more
Heidi
I enjoyed this one - it took me a long time to read and I'm not quite sure why. Well, after the initial 'I have uterine cancer' fear it engendered(as far as I know I don't have cancer). A nice combination of history, science and biography and ethics and an overview of the progression of bioethics over the last few decadess as well as the family of the woman. ...more
Meghan
Feb 05, 2011 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Megan
Jul 06, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: summer-2011
Sara
Aug 07, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Linnea
Feb 22, 2012 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Artemis
Aug 17, 2013 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Catherine
Dec 15, 2013 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Cathy
Feb 08, 2015 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Chris Lott
Jan 01, 2016 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Jessica
Aug 26, 2016 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
HannaH
Dec 14, 2016 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Samantha
Jul 07, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Rose
Jan 30, 2020 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Amy
Aug 01, 2021 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition