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This was a fascinating story about a woman, her cells, and the family she left behind. Ms. Lacks' cells continue to help scientists with countless medical discoveries, and yet her family lives in poverty. I liked the way Rebecca Skloot uncovered the story for us - as the reader, you feel like you are joining her in getting to know this family, and the relationship between Rebecca and Deborah (Ms. Lacks' daughter) was the best part.
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True-story about medical developments from a cell sample taken unknowingly from a black woman in the 50s her story. It mixed both the science and medical developments with the lives of Henrietta Lacks and her family. It moved pretty well for a non fiction book, though tended to slow down for me when it got going on the science side.
It was an interesting look at how both scientists and the courts completely separate their studies from the people they are being performed on, and a bit scary in th ...more
It was an interesting look at how both scientists and the courts completely separate their studies from the people they are being performed on, and a bit scary in th ...more
The first human cells that survived in a laboratory setting and have since been used in thousands of research labs, were taken without permission from a young black mother of five who was dying from cancer. Those cells not only survived, they thrived, and became well-known to scientists as HeLa. They can be found in labs around the world and have lived longer than Henrietta herself. Until this book, however, no one knew where HeLa came from and her family had no idea about their mother's scienti
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I enjoyed this book maybe more than I normally would because it is a local story set in Baltimore and Virginia. It is a troubling story about racial and social inequality and how those factors are often lost in the sanitized/whitewashed terms of medicine and disease. A very human story that reads more like a novel than nonfiction.
An interesting look at how the ubiquitous HeLa cells came into being, and the impact they've had on the family involved, science, medicine, and our world.
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great read - so many layers to this book - from science to human interest. I just found it fascinating.
Really surprising story about using people’s tissues.
Jun 17, 2011
Kim
marked it as to-read
May 25, 2015
Jessica Sturges
added it
Jul 27, 2015
Jmhodges15
added it
Feb 06, 2018
Brandi
marked it as to-read
