I did a release-trip this weekend that included several Little Free Libraries, and after dropping some books at the Wilmington VT LFL I chose this good-condition softcover to bring home. It's been on a lot of wishlists and quite a few favorite-read lists too, so I was pleased to find it.

Later: I'd heard about Lacks' cells long ago, probably via a Reader's Digest article, but it only dealt with the unusual properties of her cells. This book covers all that, and much more, focusing primarily on the lives of everyone involved - Lacks herself, her family, the doctors - including a close look at their situation at the time and where the surviving family members are now. In some respects it's a scientific triumph, and in others a horror story - the discovery that the HeLa cells were so insanely robust that they'd effectively contaminated a HUGE percentage of labs around the world was nothing short of terrifying, and while it hasn't (that we know of) produced any B-movie franken-bugs it did terrible damage to ongoing experiments that had to start over.

The suffering that Lacks went through was pretty horrifying too, and the troubles of her family members didn't stop with her death; the book made me feel as if I'd met them all, and the author's persistence and patience vs. the reluctance of the family to get involved with a public that hadn't done them any good at all was quite remarkable.

Science, history, and a very personal biography - fascinating story.

I'm adding this book to the Anything But Romance shrinking bookbox, which will be on its way to keno-mom shortly. Hope someone enjoys it!

Grabbed from the Anything But Romance Shrinking Book Box. Looks good. Thanks for adding it.

This was so good. Some parts were very difficult to read. The writer did a wonderful job telling Henrietta's story.

Surprise RABCK for ciloma. Hope you enjoy it.

This one and a partner arrived safely in the mail. Thanx a bunch!