Book 1 of 52: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I find it interesting that my first book to blog about is non-fiction. I don't read much non-fiction. The last book I remember reading that was Nelson Mandela's biography 'Journey to Freedom', but that was easily 15 years ago. I  wouldn't have picked this up, except that it is the January pick for the book club I belong to at our local library. I had heard of this book but resisted picking it up because it was 'non-fiction' and about cell biology. In fact, the book is much more of a discussion on race, class and ethics, with a bioethics lesson thrown in.

It was a great start to the New Year! An amazing book, especially for anyone that has taken some biology courses in univeristy or works in the health field. It reads more like a novel than a non-fiction book (probably why I liked it so much). 

So who is Henrietta Lacks?

Scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—have led to some of the most important medical advances in history. They were the first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, and are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons. HeLa cells have been used to develop the polio vaccine; involved in cancer research, invitro fertilization work, cloning and gene mapping.

This book brings Henrietta to life. Instead of thinking of her in terms of her cells, we learn about her, her family, and the author along the way. One of my favourite quotes in the book is from a lab assistant watching the autopsy of Henrietta Lacks: "When I saw those (red) toenails, I nearly fainted. I thought, Oh jeez, she's a real person."

The afterword in the book does an excellent job at tackling some of the bioethics issues discussed in the book. It leaves you wondering what happened to the vials of blood and pap smears you've given at the doctors office. Also, for those of you with children, the cord blood that every doctor takes from every newborn infant at birth. Where does it end up?

A wonderful read that I got through in only three days (leaving me more time for the next book of 2012!). We'll see what the book club members think when we meet next week.

Addendeum (Jan 12th) - the book club members all loved it as well!