Ev R. (UALabGeek) - , reviewed on 9/14/2010 + 46 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Henrietta Lacks dies early in this story but 60 years after her death her impact lives on: in the science she inadvertently helped create, in the damaged lives of her children and grandchildren, and in the ethical questions surrounding medical research.

As a science nerd who cut my teeth on HeLa cell culture, this was personal and fascinating. The incredible series of coincidences that had to happen for Henrietta Lacks and her cancer cells to come to the attention of the research biologist most able to bring her unique qualities to the world is astonishing. Henrietta's haphazard and tumultuous background versus her noble and lasting legacy makes you wonder what undiscovered greatness we all could have hidden inside our mundane lives.

Excellent story, fascinating history.

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