Identify Epithetical Books The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
| Title | : | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks |
| Author | : | Rebecca Skloot |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 370 pages |
| Published | : | February 2nd 2010 by Crown Publishing Group |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Science. Biography. History. Health. Medicine. Audiobook. Book Club |
Description During Books The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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.
Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo — to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.
Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family — past and present — is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.
Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.
List Books To The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
| Original Title: | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks |
| ISBN: | 1400052173 (ISBN13: 9781400052172) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/ |
| Characters: | Henrietta Lacks |
| Setting: | Baltimore, Maryland(United States) Clover, Virginia(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | Ambassador Book Award for American Studies (2011), Audie Award for Nonfiction (2011), Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Nonfiction (2010), Wellcome Book Prize (2010), Puddly Award for Nonfiction (2011) Goodreads Choice Award for Nonfiction and Debut Author and Nominee for Favorite Book (2010), AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books for Young Adult Science Book (2011) |
Rating Epithetical Books The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Ratings: 4.07 From 546135 Users | 33368 ReviewsAppraise Epithetical Books The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Fascinating and Thought-Provoking. Strengths: *Fantastically interesting subject!One woman's cancerous cells are multiplied and distributed around the globe enabling a new era of cellular research and fueling incredible advances in scientific methodology, technology, and medical treatments. This strain of cells, named HeLa (after Henrietta Lacks their originator), has been amazingly prolific and has become integrated into advancements of science around the world (space travel, genome research,The doorbell rang the other day and when I answered it, there was a very slick guy in a nice suit standing there and a limousine parked at the curb. He started shaking my hand and wormed his way into the house.Mr. Kemper, Im John Doe with Dee-Bag Industries Incorporated. I need you to sign some paperwork and take a ride with me. Dont worry, Ill have you home in a day or two, he said. Then he pulled a document out of his briefcase, set it on the coffee table and pushed a pen in my hand. Wait a
A lot to process with this book. This book's been out for a while, so I'm just going to put down a bunch of thoughts rattling around in my head, and probably leave it at that:-legacy left by slavery and how it affected Henrietta Lacks and the members of her family, and African Americans in general (where they lived, what kind of employment was available to them, the quality of education available to them, the history of abuse and violence, and the impact on their mental health, and the quality
She's the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother is so important to science, why can't we get health insurance? I've moved this book on and off my TBR for years. The truth is that, with few exceptions, I'm generally turned off by the thought of non-fiction. I'm a fan of fictional stories, and I think I've always felt that non-fiction will be dry, boring and difficult to get through. Especially a book about science, cells and medicine when I'm more of
The gift of life is surely the greatest gift of all. So how can the story of the remarkable woman who gave that gift over and over again to millions of people have been overlooked for so long?In 1951 a poor African American woman in Maryland became an uninformed donor to medical science. Henrietta Lacks died at age 31 of cervical cancer at John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore. Then doctors discovered that tumor cells they had removed from her body earlier continued to thrive in the lab - a medical
GREAT review --for a book I've never forgotten!
This is a very powerful and informative story. Also, with the history of personal freedoms, civil rights, and right to privacy/requiring consent, this is a very important books. I am not sure the details about the science involved in the story will appeal to all. Just the same as how those who are here for the science may be disinterested in the background stories of the people involved. But, if you think you will like one of the other, I dont think the one you dont care for will be distracting.
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