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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Such an eye-opening look into not only medical morality issues, but specifically how Black patients were treated throughout the 1900s.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
john hopkins, you fucked up.
This book is a stunning example of why you cannot take the humanity out of science and research. Scientific progress always comes at the expense of individual lives, like Henrietta Lacks and her family. These expenses disproportionately affect black and brown people.
This was beautifully written and extremely emotional. Should be taught in schools
This book is a stunning example of why you cannot take the humanity out of science and research. Scientific progress always comes at the expense of individual lives, like Henrietta Lacks and her family. These expenses disproportionately affect black and brown people.
This was beautifully written and extremely emotional. Should be taught in schools
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
A fascinating and important story that needs to be told in terms of what it reveals about race in the USA. For all that, there's something slightly artless and lack-lustre about the writing itself both in terms of its language and the way the work is structured.
This book does seriously read like a novel. I devoured it in two days, and wanted more. Rebecca Skloot does a fantastic job of painting a picture of this horribly frustrating situation and coming from both sides of it, letting the reader decide what they think about science and research, and humanity. The strong presence of the Lacks family made this book so well-rounded and personal, I found myself wanted to turn back the clocks so that no bad things could happen to them. And then there's so much scientific knowledge and discussion around the HeLa cells (that I truthfully had never heard of), yet nothing that will bog the reader down.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
I picked up this book because my son had to read it for class. (I'm thinking of reading all the books he reads this year... except the ones I have already read.) He dislikes non-fiction, which is most of what his class will be reading, and so I want to be able to talk to him about the books, maybe make them a little more interesting to read.
I didn't start this book with any interest in the subject matter, but I found it engaging and well-written. I learned a lot about HeLa cells that I never knew before. That was the best part of the book, to me. I also learned a lot about scientific ethics of dealing with human tissues, and Henrietta Lacks' life, which held my attention. The sections about the family of Henrietta were interesting at first, but seemed to go on too long as the book wound down. Overall, it was a really good book, and I admire the author for spending about a decade gathering the materials to bring the story of Henrietta Lacks, and her HeLa cells, to light and life.
"It's good to know stuff... to be educated so you understand life and reality," is one of my takeaway discussion points from this book.
I didn't start this book with any interest in the subject matter, but I found it engaging and well-written. I learned a lot about HeLa cells that I never knew before. That was the best part of the book, to me. I also learned a lot about scientific ethics of dealing with human tissues, and Henrietta Lacks' life, which held my attention. The sections about the family of Henrietta were interesting at first, but seemed to go on too long as the book wound down. Overall, it was a really good book, and I admire the author for spending about a decade gathering the materials to bring the story of Henrietta Lacks, and her HeLa cells, to light and life.
"It's good to know stuff... to be educated so you understand life and reality," is one of my takeaway discussion points from this book.