Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot


Henrietta Lacks was a black woman who died in the 1950s from cervical cancer. Her doctor took a cell sample from her (without her or her family’s permission) and those cells have been used again and again in tons of scientific research, and are still alive and around today.

This is a non-fiction book that was interesting at times, and boring to me at others (especially the Afterward section about informed consent and ethics). But I don’t think I’m naturally that into scientific reporting/investigation, so it’s good for me to read something different every once in awhile.

1 comment:

Notorious MLE said...

This is on my to-read list. My very longggggggggg to-read list.