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A review by infogdss29
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
4.0
I really want to love this book! I've seen great reviews of it, and
think it's an important topic - a culture of one African America
woman's cancer cells have divided and multiplied at a phenomenal rate
since the 1950s, and they are still used today for a number of
important medical tests and procedures. Although the HeLa cells are
named for her, she was never asked permission for those cells to be
cultured and used, and never received a dime for them. Henrietta
Lack's biography is interspersed with author Skloot's tale of first
hearing about these amazing cells, researching them, and tracking down
family members and medical personnel to get the full story, and the
tale is interwoven with biology, civil rights and the medical science.
I'm finding it absolutely fascinating and highly readable, but I'm a
former biology major. I'm finding it a little disorganized to boot.
think it's an important topic - a culture of one African America
woman's cancer cells have divided and multiplied at a phenomenal rate
since the 1950s, and they are still used today for a number of
important medical tests and procedures. Although the HeLa cells are
named for her, she was never asked permission for those cells to be
cultured and used, and never received a dime for them. Henrietta
Lack's biography is interspersed with author Skloot's tale of first
hearing about these amazing cells, researching them, and tracking down
family members and medical personnel to get the full story, and the
tale is interwoven with biology, civil rights and the medical science.
I'm finding it absolutely fascinating and highly readable, but I'm a
former biology major. I'm finding it a little disorganized to boot.