The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks

Hardcover, 369 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 2010 by Crown Publishers.

ISBN:
978-1-4000-5217-2
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4 stars (110 reviews)

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance.

This New York Times bestseller takes readers on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers filled with HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia, to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith …

24 editions

More about the author and the process than the HeLa cells

2 stars

I picked up this book hoping it would tell me more about the HeLa cells and the background to them. It sort of does that, except it's really more a book about how the author gathered the information in the book - "I went here, met X, went somewhere else, met Y". As a result, it ends up feeling like the author has inserted herself into the story, and perhaps also got a bit too close to the participants.

For me, this is one of those books which isn't that fulfilling on its own, but a good jumping off point by following up the references etc.

Definitely a necessary read.

5 stars

This book is fantastic in so many ways. I've had it on my list for a while, but I felt like I finally needed to sit down and read it.

First, it actually provides a lot of information about one of the most infamous people in science that many had never even heard of: Henrietta Lacks. It's disappointing that one (black) woman's cells were used to do so much for scientific advancement, and her family was never made aware. It's not at all shocking, especially considering the Jim Crow laws of the early 1900s (and the remaining segregation through varying policies that have intentionally targeted Black Americans). The details around Henrietta's family are amazing, reminding us all of something that went largely unacknowledged for decades (and, honestly, still lacking in a lot of human-based scientific research): She was human, and she had people who cared for her.

And they all …

Review of 'The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A challenging but thorough dive into issues of tissue rights, the intersection of race and gender of Henrietta and her family, and conflicted interest between human rights, health research, and "research" leading to corporate ownership of valuable biologicals originating from patients. This deserves more eyes from patients as this is still tricky legal territory, and laws have yet to be written covering many issues now arising in court.

Review of 'The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

"Black scientists and technicians, many of them women, used cells from a black woman to help save the lives of millions of Americans, most of them white. And they did so on the same campus--and at the very same time--that state officials were conducting the infamous Tuskegee syphilis studies."

Wow, what an incredible and tragic story. I can't believe (...but also can...) that in all of the science classes I've taken, not one has mentioned Henrietta. I loved getting the scientific story about her cells, but I appreciated the author making the book mostly about her family and how they dealt/were dealing with the discovery and aftermath of all this new knowledge.

All in all, probably one of my favorite books of the year.

Review of 'The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This isn't just a very moving story about Henrietta Lacks and her family, but an interesting examination of race, class, and the path to adoption of modern laws regarding informed consent for research subjects and privacy of medical records. It's also an interesting scientific history of the HeLa cells themselves, why they are so unusual, and how they have been integral to the development of modern cancer treatments. The author treats sensitive subjects in a moving way that really draw you into the story, and I found myself rooting for the Lacks family to find justice and, more importantly, emotional closure.

Review of 'The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It had the right mix of biographical stories, science facts, and moral questions to consider. Although non-fiction, it reads like a novel and was very engaging. Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in the 1950s. At the time of her death, the doctors at Johns Hopkins took samples of her cells and were able to successfully grow and study them in the laboratory. Her cells have been vital in medical research throughout the years, and are still growing in labs today.

I found myself thinking about the Lacks family and medical research throughout the day as I was reading the book. I felt Rebecca Skloot did weave herself and her quest to research the Lacks family a bit much into the narrative, but her perspective added insights into the family and how they felt about Johns Hopkins, reporters, and the what happened to Henrietta's cells. …

Review of 'The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The fascinating story of HeLa, a cell line that is used a lot in biology. This is both the story of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells the cell line originates from, and the story of Rebecca Skoot, the journalist, when she started to work on the story and to interact with the Lacks family, in particular Deborah, Henrietta's daughter. On top of the story itself, you get an overview of the hospital medicine in the 40s-50s in the US, and a lot of food for thought on ethical questions, patient consent for research samples, and the ownership of said samples.

Review of 'The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I sometimes dislike popular books on science, but I found this entertaining. There are a lot of interesting characters in the story, both in the Lacks family and at Hopkins. Also, I had heard that many cell lines had been contaminated with HeLa cells, probably in the 80s; I had no idea that this was first revealed in the 60s, but had been ignored.

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Subjects

  • Lacks, Henrietta, -- 1920-1951 -- Health
  • Cancer -- Patients -- Virginia -- Biography
  • African American women -- History
  • Human experimentation in medicine -- United States -- History
  • HeLa cells
  • Cancer -- Research
  • Cell culture
  • Medical ethics

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