Saturday 5 April 2014

the year in books - April. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Joining in with Laura's #Theyearinbooks
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. 

Henrietta died from cervical cancer at the age of 31 in 1951. A biopsy of her cancer cells led to one of  the major scientific breakthroughs of medicine, the beginning of human tissue culture, as HeLa cells as they were named became the first human cell line to grow long term outside of the body.  This cell line has been to outer space, aided in the development of the polio vaccine, in cancer research, in drug manufacturing and in vitro fertilization, and has been part of over 60,000 scientific studies. The author tells the story in 3 phases, the life of Henrietta, the story of her cells, and finally of her family and the ethical issues that are tangled within.  Amongst all this the author tells of her struggle to tell the story, to research the history and to meet the family. It was an interesting read, but in the probably not very popular genre of  medical history I much preferred The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee.


next month, more scientific history. Darwin. The Origin of the Species. It's very long. I'd better start now.....


meanwhile gratuitous fountain photos - just because.


11 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good read T. If you're trying a little Darwin I recommend a little Dawkins. Kept me occupied one Christmas. J x

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  2. Sounds like an interesting book.
    Anne xx

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  3. Your fountain shots are just beautiful and so amazingly well captured!! xx

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  4. Sounds amazing. However, I fear the medical / technical aspects of the book would put me to sleep. I'm always on the lookout for a good read or someone to weed my garden, in future I'll pay more attention to your "book reports."

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  5. I am happy you posted your fountain pictures. They are beautiful.

    The books sounds interesting and some good came from Henrietta's early death.

    Have a great weekend

    Helen

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  6. Sounds like a fascinating book. We picked up The Origin of Species the other day as well. Hope you enjoy it, and have a lovely Sunday. CJ xx

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  7. I'm glad you enjoyed your book but it sounds a bit deep for me . I'm the ' a little bit of chick lit before bed ' type of girl . Enjoy the holidays x

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  8. Powerful book I imagine. I had years of treatment for abnormal cells - all in the past now thank goodness x

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  9. Ah, I've wanted to read that book, having heard several radio interview when it first came out. And Darwin??? Sounds like a BIG read!

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  10. WOW--VERY interesting reading this year, Tess! I read Origin of the Species back in school days...maybe time to revisit?! ;o) Thanks for the inspiration! Happy Days ((HUGS))

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  11. What an interesting genre, this sounds like a fascinating book, Tess.

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