#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
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, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually … billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance. This phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.
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As an oncological nurse it is a vivid description of the historical aspects of much that guides our specialty’s function today. A tragedy in the treatment of patients. The book drove home all that I have learned professionally about consenting patients for clinical trials and genetic testing and the important implications of the information …
Tells a little know medical history of one of modern biology’s major discoveries
One of the best books I have read. Fabulous, unusual,twisted, emotional.
important subject matter. My favorite book of the year. our book club loved it.
If you think pieces of you taken by medical personnel for your lab tests would never be used for research without your consent, you need to read this book. Eye opening to say the least.
Definitely better than Oprah’s TV version.
This is an excellent discussion of medical ethics. Framing it through this individual experience makes it much clearer and much more immediate. The choices researchers have to make are hydra-headed, and will never become easier no matter how medicine advances – in fact, they’re likely to grow even thornier.
Disturbing that this happen,but very informative.
One of my all time favorites. How someone can take a non-fiction scientific story and make it so entertaining is beyond me.
The life of Henrietta Lacks has made a difference to many women
An untold story of medical advances made without patient’s knowledge or consent until decades later.
A great read about a great and little known, but immensely important story with immense impact on us all.
What science did with this lady’s cells without her knowledge is unforgivable. The wealth it has generated for various pharmaceutical and research labs is sinful. Her family still lives in poverty.
If you want to learn the true story of cancer research please read this sad story.
It’s an interesting story. I was disappointed that it seemed to be more about the family than about Henrietta herself.
This is one of the best books I ever read. I hated biology in high school. That said, the author makes this book very easy to understand and it was like reading a biography, a history lesson, a biography lesson, a lesson on ethics in medicine and it really consumed my interest.
A nonfiction account of the impact new scientific discovery and applications of technology have on a single African American family that raises the specter of the responsibilities researchers have to the human elements that cannot be excluded from their inquiries, even when not directly involved. Ethical issues yet to be definitively settled …
This was an excellent book, albeit very sad, based on the real life story of Henrietta Locke. Well researched. A little woman who lived a tragic life, but in the medical community provided valuable research studies.
The true story of the women who unwittingly contributed greatly to scientific discoveries without her knowledge or her family’s knowledge. Well written with pictures of the family and Henrietta. Sad but true account of how blacks were treated in the 1950s.
This book did so many things on so many levels – it revealed a process and path that is both stunning, scary and yet extraordinary. So often we have no idea what sits just behind the background of a person, place or thing – especially disease and our ability to study it. What a connection this book offered. I am so glad I read it.