The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Author: Rebecca Skloot

Year: 2010

Genre: Non-Fiction, Medical

Age: Mature High School Students (Especially students interested in medical research)

Summary: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

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Review: I am not usually one to read non-fiction, but this story was utterly fascinating. I was concerned that this novel would read like a medical text that I would never be able to understand. However, Skloot was able to explain all the medical information in the text in layman's terms, while telling the astonishing story of Henrietta's life and the lives of Henrietta's family. The story of how Henrietta's family was kept in the dark while her cells were changing the world is astonishing, and any person that picks this book up will find themselves pondering medical ethics in a way they probably never thought they would.