10.1k reviews for:

Die Unsterblichkeit der Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot, Sebastian Vogel

4.23 AVERAGE

mtbkgrlie47's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

baarareads's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative slow-paced

lizard_wizard7's review against another edition

5.0

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The interwoven narratives of the HeLa cells changing the world of medicine and Deborah Lacks searching for understanding of what happened to her mother make this book one of the more captivating historical books I've ever read. This book will have the reader wondering what the world would look like if it wasn't for Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cells and gives a glimpse into the life and family that they came from.

bookwyrmbutch's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative sad medium-paced

jill_ligi's review against another edition

5.0

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The science, the history and the humanity in this book are eye-opening. I was fascinated, angry, and sad at the same time.
A must read.

sibbyk's review against another edition

4.5

informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

meanieheadbookreviews's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad

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This is a nonfiction biography about a black woman in the 1950s whose cells are taken without her knowledge/consent (cervical cancer cells, to be precise) and used for various big-time scientific endeavors. She is the human behind HeLa cells. Evidently this is a big deal in the scientific community, of which I am not a member, but these are the first cells scientists were able to keep alive in perpetuity in a Petri dish. They have been used to develop critical advances in modern medicine (the polio vaccine, HIV/AIDS treatment, leukemia studies, etc). Don’t read this if you’re on medication for high blood pressure. Her cells have been harvested over and over, sold for millions (billions?) to pharmaceutical research companies, and her family has seen none of the profits from this. They weren’t even informed about it. Her daughter is heavily featured in this text, and Deborah Lacks has been haunting me for weeks after finishing this book. This book fosters valuable conversations about research ethics, race politics, and the broken American healthcare system. I’d recommend this one.

chapterandhearse's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

dme_readmore's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

winona_reads3's review against another edition

3.0

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3.75
really good!