“Doctors took her cells without asking. Those cells never died. They launched a medical revolution and a multimillion-dollar industry. More than twenty years later, her children found out. Their lives would never be the same.” –Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is one of the most intriguing, informative, and heartfelt nonfiction books I have read in a long time. From the first line on the cover (above) to the final sentence on the last page, my whole being was attuned to the incredible—and sometimes tragic—story of the origin and reach of HeLa cells. Not having been a science-focused student, I was not immediately familiar with what HeLa cells were—and how integral a part of medicine they still are.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is one of the most intriguing, informative, and heartfelt nonfiction books I have read in a long time. From the first line on the cover (above) to the final sentence on the last page, my whole being was attuned to the incredible—and sometimes tragic—story of the origin and reach of HeLa cells. Not having been a science-focused student, I was not immediately familiar with what HeLa cells were—and how integral a part of medicine they still are.
Rebecca Skloot accessibly and lyrically details the history of HeLa cells--and the woman behind them--in her book. Briefly, the first immortal (self-regenerating) human cells to ever survive in a petri/culture dish were taken from the body of an African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1950s at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
