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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
Rebecca Skloot did an amazing amount of research for this look at the history of HeLa and took the subject far beyond the science and into the deeply personal family history. Henrietta Lacks did not donate her body to science as many (including myself) have assumed. Instead, physicians and researchers made huge scientific advances with tissues harvested from her uterus. Her family didn't find out until decades later. A fabulous look at research ethics and a great history of the power of HeLa cells in healthcare advances.
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
I gave up this book less than half way through. The story itself was interesting, but I was so fed up with the author's attitude, that I had to stop. Unabashed story of how her privileged white life was so touched by finally telling the untold story of a black woman. Whether or not she did go through some transformation while writing this book, is not something I am going to judge, but I know for sure that I do not care for her "weaving of her own story" into this biography.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Anyone in the medical or science field should read this book.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Excellent amalgam of biography, social commentary and science.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Wonderful book. If you want to learn about how genetic research was primarily built on the back of one black poor woman, if you want to learn about inequalities and the mindset of the research community, if you are a doctor, patient, or healthcare worker and wonder about how life-saving medical advances were made over the past fifty years, this is the book for you. Absolutely astounding.