Monday, January 24, 2011

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Let me just say it:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an amazing book.

There are books that entertain, amuse, educate, philosophize, dictate, subvert, divert, interest, and/or bore. This book will do more than all that. This book will change your world.

For me, it changed the way I understood Science--with the capital S. Science is oft referred to as today's reigning religion. The scientific method, process, and philosophy undergird much of the way we approach knowledge and the world around us. Science is neat, methodical, objective. It is safe, controlled, and above all, ethical. Or so I thought, as a Biology major.

This book turned that all around. The Immortal Life of Henrieta Lacks is about many things: the enigma that is Henrietta Lacks, the scientific revolution sparked by the first ever cultured immortal human cell line (HeLa), the story of a family's quest for truth, and the injustices done upon the Lacks family. For me, this is also the story of Science and its dirty beginning.

Rebecca Skloot is an excellent story-teller with an excellent story. Gripping, horrifying, shocking, revelatory--The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks should not be missed by anyone. Get it at the bookstore, get it on your kindle, get it at the library. One way or another. Get it. You will not regret it.


Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.

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