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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Skloot, Rebecca
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Very Good/very good
- ISBN 10
- 1400052173
- ISBN 13
- 9781400052172
- Seller
-
Berkeley, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Crown, 2010. Hardcover. Very Good/very good. Unmarked. Unclipped dust jacket. Section of photographs. 370pp. Notes. Index. Later edition. The story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman who unknowingly "donated" the HeLa cells that became the first "immortal" human cells grown in a culture.
Synopsis
Rebecca Skloot is an award-winning science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; Discover; and many others. She is coeditor of The Best American Science Writing 2011 and has worked as a correspondent for NPR’s Radiolab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW . She was named one of five surprising leaders of 2010 by the Washington Post . Skloot's debut book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, took more than a decade to research and write, and instantly became a New York Times bestseller. It was chosen as a best book of 2010 by more than sixty media outlets, including Entertainment Weekly , People, and the New York Times . It is being translated into more than twenty-five languages, adapted into a young reader edition, and being made into an HBO film produced by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball. Skloot is the founder and president of The Henrietta Lacks Foundation. She has a B.S. in biological sciences and an MFA in creative nonfiction. She has taught creative writing and science journalism at the University of Memphis, the University of Pittsburgh, and New York University. She lives in Chicago. For more information, visit her website at RebeccaSkloot.com, where you’ll find links to follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Reviews
On Mar 10 2011, AbbeyRheinhartt said:
This is a historically significant book that captures three important points: (1) the lack of ethics in medical research, particularly informed consent; (2) how this lack of medical consent affected a simple African-American family of relatively no sophistication; and (3)that the family of Henrietta Lacks cannot afford health insurance, notwithstanding the enormity of her contribution to science.During 1951, Henrietta Lacks went to Johns Hopkins with a "knot" in her cervix. The biopsy revealed cancer. Tissue was removed and cultured. The cancer was unique in that it continued to grow in a laboratory setting, and were named HeLa cells for their source, Henrietta Lacks. These particular cells were unique in that they do not observe the Hayflick limit, which is the usual lifetime of cancerous cells.These cells were used in the testing by Jonas Salk for his polio vaccine, and are used so regularly in the scientific community that it is estimated 300 scientific papers a month are written on the basis of research performed with HeLa cells. Neither Lacks nor her family gave the physician permission to harvest the cells. When the family, who was relatively unsophisticated, learned that "she was being kept alive," they were extremely concerned, and engaged counsel. They did not understand that it was her tumor only.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Diatrope Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 22304
- Title
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- Author
- Skloot, Rebecca
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- very good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 1400052173
- ISBN 13
- 9781400052172
- Publisher
- Crown
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2010
- Keywords
- Neuroscience, Biology, Cell Culture, Genetic History, Bioethics, History of Science, African American History, Medicine, Polio vaccine, History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins, George Gey, Racial politics of medicine
- Bookseller catalogs
- Medicine;
- X weight
- 19 oz
Terms of Sale
Diatrope Books
All books are returnable for a full refund if the book does not match the posted description. A full refund includes the purchase price and all shipping charges.Returns initiated by the buyer are eligible for a partial return for thirty days. Please keep in mind that the buyer is responsible for shipping fees for the return as well as the shipment costs paid to fulfill the order. Upon receipt by Diatrope Books the refund will be issued ONLY if the book is received in the condition it was sent.
About the Seller
Diatrope Books
Biblio member since 2005
Berkeley, California
About Diatrope Books
Diatrope sells used books, with an emphasis on art, science and technology
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