The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: A book review

When I first heard about this book, it seemed like any other biography of a woman apparently unheard of. A chance look at the blurb caught my attention and I suddenly remembered where I had come by that name. Henrietta Lacks was the woman behind the famous “HeLa” cells.

Book Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The art of writing a scientific biography is a very difficult one and has been mastered by very few writers so far. The task becomes all the more difficult if the subject is somewhat controversial and non-conventional. However, all these factors didn’t deter Rbecca Skloot in her fabulous attempt at telling the story of an unsung hero of modern science, Henrietta Lacks. The name of Henrietta may not be so popular with us, but if you abbreviate her name to HeLa, then she becomes something which every biologist and every medical professional has not only heard about, but moist probably seen. HeLa is a cell line that was taken from Henrietta’s cervical cancer without her knowledge or consent. The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Skloot tries to tell this story of wonder, deception, anger, science and miracles.