The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack by Rebecca Skloot

This is the story of the woman behind the famous HeLa cells that have been used in countless research projects and experiments since they were taken from her body in the 1950s. She died many years ago and not a whole lot is known about her, but Rebecca Skloot did a great job of making her come alive. The reader also meets many of the living members of Henrietta's large extended family and learns quite a lot about cellular research and the legal issues that surround scientific tissue use.

I found this book very interesting. At first I felt like the author had a definite agenda that she was pushing, but by the end of the book it seemed to me that Ms. Skloot had written a pretty balanced account of the big picture. And it is a very big picture.

There was A LOT written about the descendants of Henrietta Lacks. I wasn't expecting quite so much of their story--I was expecting to read a book largely about science. And there was a lot of science, but even more about Henrietta's family. It made me think....my life seems hard to me sometimes, but reading about some of the struggles of the Lack family puts my trivial difficulties right into perspective. I have become so comfortable that I forget that others suffer. I thought Rebecca Skloot's portrayal of the Lack family was very good--real enough so you see the warts but also the hope and the faith and the striving for a more positive future. 

It was a fascinating book; I learned a lot. Highly recommended.