3 Review(s)

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks is the bestselling story of a young woman whose bodily cells changed medical science for the better, although she was hardly made aware of her contribution. Summary Of The Book The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks is the story of a woman who contributed much to medical science, but was hardly acknowledged for the same. Henrietta was born to a black tobacco farmer, and was a victim of cancer. Hailing from a poor background and afflicted with cancer, she was christened HeLa by scientists shortly before she died. In 1951, her cervical cancer cells were taken, and they became some of the most essential tools in medicine. Henrietta had no knowledge of the same when she was still alive, and HeLa is presently the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. HeLa cells have been used for multiple scientific pursuits, and have been essential for purposes like testing the first polio vaccine in the 1950s, and conducting ongoing research related to AIDS, cancer, cloning, in vitro fertilization, and the effects of radiation, amongst other purposes. Henrietta's family did not learn about these tests for over twenty years after she died. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a phenomenal book that tries to trace the soul and essence of an ordinary woman, whose cells helped the medical world accomplish extraordinary feats.  This book has been translated into over twenty five languages. A movie based on the book is in the pipeline, to be created by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball, in association with HBO. About Rebecca Skloot Born in the year 1972, Rebecca L.Skloot is a freelance science and medicine writer turned literary phenomenon. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is her first book. She has written another book titled The Best American Science Writing, co-authored by her father, Floyd Skloot, and released in the year 2011. Her articles have been published in many famous magazines, including The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Pitt Magazine, and Johns Hopkins Magazine. For her first non-fiction book, she won the Wellcome Trust Book Prize in 2010, the National Academies of Science Best Book Award in the year 2011, the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize in 2010, and the Ambassador Book Award in the year 2010. It was also deemed as a New York Times notable book, and more than 60 publications selected it as the best book of the year as well.