The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
You can view this book's Amazon detail page here.
At its base, this is a very interesting story that is trying to be more than it should be. Henrietta Lacks was a woman who died of cervical cancer. Her cells were harvested and they were the first cells to successfully and rapidly reproduced in a lab. So much so that they became the basis for the vast majority of cell cultures that are used for experimentation in the world today. The book repeats several times that the weight of the cells that have been produced since Ms. Lacks’ death probably exceeds the weight of the woman when she was alive.
The book discusses what happened to Henrietta Lacks and presents a full family history. This part is interesting and germane. It also talks about how the cells were cultivated as well as what many of the cell cultures were used for. Also very interesting. Much of the book, though, is about the family of Henrietta Lacks after her death. How screwed up they were, how they were never compensated for the use of the cells and how they were never truly informed about how the cells were used. While sort of interesting, this really should have been a separate story. One I probably wouldn’t read.
If you’re interested in the premise, Google it. You’ll learn everything you need to know. If you’re the kind of person who likes to learn every corner of a story, this may be a great book for you.
- Started reading:
- 14th August 2011
- Finished reading:
- 10th September 2011