The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: An Intimate Look at the Life and Legacy of a Cancer Patient, by Rebecca Skloot

Admiralu: I had been meaning to read this book for a long time and when it became a selection in my Kindle Challenge, it was time to read and listen. This book tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, suffering from cancer, who has her cells taken without her consent back in the 1950s. Those cells became a sensation, with rare properties that were used in medical research even today. She never knew and her family didn't find out until the 1970s. What follows is a mixture of Henrietta's life story and that of her family, several medical researchers and the progress of the HeLa cells and the state of cell research. There are both villains and heroes among the medical researchers. The family story is heartbreaking. Growing up in poverty with little education and few prospects, the family struggled with abuse, brushes with the law and family issues. Many were understandably angry that the family had little information about Henrietta and received no compensation. Author Rebecca started out to write one story and found another. She became a guide and comfort for the family with her research to find the truth and attempts to teach the family about science, since many hadn't completed enough schooling....

United States on Jan 11, 2024

Joline: Great book, you will not want to put this book down, written well from the first sentence.

Canada on Jan 08, 2024

Rajinder Kaur Atwal: An eye opening book about a woman who transformed medicine without ever knowing it.

United Kingdom on Dec 23, 2023

Saumya Singh: The media could not be loaded.  Beautifully written. Loved it

India on Sep 08, 2023

Roberto: Livro fantástico, vale muito a pena.

Brazil on Jul 01, 2023

Dr Efraín Pérez-Peña: This is a great book. It is non-fiction but written in an engaging fiction style, but based in true facts. She is nonjudgmental and doesn’t criticize most of the common medical practices that were common at that time. The advances in Medicine with these cells in favor of humanity are explained in a clear and accesible way. The human side of the story is as compelling as the scientific. Highly recommended

Mexico on Jun 27, 2020

voracious reader: Rebecca Skloot tells the story of the family of Henrietta Lacks whose cancer cells were the first human cells to be grown and reproduced in a culture medium. The Lacks family is terribly poor partly as a result of segregation and discrimination against African Americans. However, their poverty is partly a result of their own conduct. Henrietta had her first child at 14 by her first cousin. She and her husband were an attractive couple. The family has much white blood as well. There was a great deal of inbreeding. As a result many of them suffered a genetic hearing loss and mental illness. They did not appear particularly bright. Henrietta knew something was wrong when she first felt a "knot" on her cervix. Still she got pregnant again with Zakariya. By the time she sought medical treatment the lump had really grown. While she received the standard treatment for the age from John's Hopkins, her pain and discomfort were not treated as agressively as the pain and discomfort experienced by white patients. Her caretakers were often flippant about her pain. While she had a surgical proceedure to pack her cervix with radium bars, the doctor took a sample of her tumor and sent part of the...

United States on Feb 02, 2011

ghost of a red rose: This book is 50% biography and 50% science; and it adds up to 100% fascinating. Wow - I couldn't put it down!

I have worked with HeLa cells many times during my career in microbiology, and I've always wondered about the woman from whom they originated. I was always very much aware that behind every one of the medical tests I performed lay a real person whose life might depend on the accuracy and insight of my work. I wanted to know as much as possible about that person, both to keep my focus on the real reason for the work I was doing, and to gain insight that might contribute to the patient's diagnosis and treatment.

And although I knew that "HeLa" had died in 1951, I felt the same way about working with the cells from her malignant cervical tumor. I wanted to know more about her, to always be aware of and empathetic to the real person and her suffering. But I graduated before Rebecca Skloots did, at a time when even less was known about "HeLa." I didn't know Henrietta Lacks' name, that she was African-American, her age when she died, or how long she was ill; and I had never seen the photo of her that is now so famous. I wondered whether she had any children, and...

United States on Sep 19, 2010