Hey all, I thought I’d try something different to blog on. I’ll be sharing a new gem I discovered which is definitely worth a read. Don’t be confused by the name; though it might be a book, it is on the topic of the clashing fields of ethics and medicine. To be honest, I’m not much of a bookworm, so when I learned I’d have to read a book for school, I was dreading to read it. However, much the opposite. When I say I love biology, I LOVE biology, so naturally, I fell in love with this book.
I’m not going to spoil too much, but essentially, this book is told from the perspective of a white author, Rebecca Skloot, who narrates the life of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman with cancer. Now you may be wondering, why would someone write on a woman with cancer? And why this woman specifically? What if I told you that this woman’s cancer cells are the reason why we have all our advanced medical technology. The reason polio was cured. Henrietta Lacks’s cells can be considered the world’s first immortal lines of cells used in research. These cells come from decades-old cancerous cells taken from a woman’s cervix tissue.
This book is very controversial in terms of the ethics and human rights the book surrounds. It explores the aftermath of the wrongdoings the science community did to the Lacks family, including the abuse of trust in the healthcare system, and the lack of knowledge the family actually had about Henrietta.
The heart-wrenching tale of this woman and her family’s fate has gained the National Academies Best Book of the Year Award, The American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Young Adult Science Book Award, The Wellcome Trust Book Prize, The Heartland Prize, a Salon Book Award, and has been featured in the 100 New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Most notably it has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for 75 weeks. So it’s obvious that it’s a great read. (other awards/recognitions are below), and yes, WOW.
- Entertainment Weekly #1 Nonfiction Book of the Year
- New Yorker Reviewers’ Favorite
- American Library Association Notable Book
- People Top Ten Book of the Year
- Washington Post Book World Top Ten Book of the Year
- USA Today Ten Books We Loved Reading
- O, The Oprah Magazine Top Ten Book of the Year
- National Public Radio Best of the Bestsellers
- Boston Globe Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
- Financial Times Nonfiction Favorite
- Los Angeles Times Critics’ Pick
- Bloomberg Top Nonfiction
- New York Magazine Top Ten Book of the Year
- Slate.com Favorite Book of the Year
- TheRoot.com Top Ten Book of the Year
- Discover magazine 2010 Must-Read
- Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
- Library Journal Top Ten Book of the Year
- Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
- U.S. News & World Report Top Debate-Worthy Book
- Booklist Top of the List—Best Nonfiction Book
If I haven’t convinced you, maybe start off with the movie from 2017, it has Oprah Winfrey in it, and I watched it myself, so I can assure you that it’s good. (p.s. I still think the book is better). That’s all from me, and as always, if you plan to read this book (or have), and you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please reach out to me at ranyabajaj1@gmail.com, and leave a comment if you enjoyed reading this.
Yours, Ranya