The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

This book is at the top of my pile for “fun reading.” I actually have two copies—one copy was given to me during my senior year at Wellesley College by my biochemistry professor, and the second copy I received as a gift for bringing a group of high school students to the Northeast Science Bowl competition at the University of Connecticut. To say that this is an influential book and a must-read is an understatement.

When most people think of science, the associations that surface rarely involve humanizing stories. The words “science” and “scientific” often conjure notions of objectivity, sterility, progress, modernity, specimen, facts, and “hard” data. The way that science is taught in many schools is devoid of feelings, emotions, struggle, and controversy. Yet, the world of science is very much rich in feelings, struggle, failures, and tension.

This book is an attempt to humanize science, to bring human voice to the study of science, and to remind us of the sacrifices and the people masked by scientific progress. Henrietta Lacks’ cells are stashed in the laboratories all across the world and are very much alive. They have been used in biomedical research for years; yet, few of us, scientists included, know the woman whose name is intimately connected to the “HeLa cell line.”