Would I read another?

I absolutely would read another book by this author. This book was a pleasure to read, and though it may have been dry in some of the heavily historical/scientific areas, I still wanted to read it through to the end. After I had finished it, stood back, looked at the notes, thought about the amount of time it took the write, I realized it was an absolutely prodigious work of journalism. "The source materials I relied on to write this book filled multiple file cabinets, and the hundreds of hours of interviews I conducted ...fill several shelves worth of notebooks." (Skloot 338). I would go as far as to say that it's one of a kind, and needs to be read. In a way, though, I feel almost like we will not be getting another book from her like this. By profession, she's not a novelist, she writes for publications like Popular Science and is a journalist for PBS's Nova. I feel that it's perfectly possible for her to continue journalism, and not write another book. If she ever writes another book however, I will be first in line to get it.     

Effect on thoughts and theories

This book did not directly effect my thoughts theories, views of the world, etc. That being said, it certainly taught me an important lesson. That is, humanity and empathy must be at the center of science and medicine, always. It is imperative that scientists especially must keep in mind that when dealing with people that they are people and not just cells or numbers or enzymes. The book also brings up a related problem that is not easily solved with empathy and understanding. That being, the borderline nefarious world of tissue banking and research. All throughout the book and especially in the afterword Skloot exposes the reader to the fact that when doctors remove things from your body, they don't have to tell you where it's going for what its going to be used for. Everything from tonsils to blood samples are kept, stored and possibly experimented on. On the plus side, experimentation on tissues like these has led to modern medicine as we know it. On the down side, not knowing where your tissues are going and the fact that you have no ownership over something when it's removed from your body means they can be used for things you do not want them to be, and also means you do not get any money made off of them, such as in Henrietta Lacks' case. Companies made millions selling vials of her cells to researchers, and yet her family did see a cent of it. Overall, it opens the reader's eyes to a world usually hidden from public view, and also teaches the lesson that ignorance can be bliss.   

Patterns

Throughout the book I am reading, I have noticed one main pattern. Saying that, that pattern is not particularly subtle, nor do I believe it was meant to be. The pattern is simply that every few chapters or so the perspective changes from the narration of historical events to the author's, Rebecca Skloot's, experience tracking this story down, as well as her experience leading up to her investigation into it. This dual narrative works quite well, as her search for the story is almost as important as the history aspect. I have seen dual narratives like this before in books, and in some ways it is a personal detriment to my experience of the book. What happens is I very quickly start to enjoy one narrative over the other, so the time I spend reading the narrative I less prefer, I am waiting to start reading the other one. My personal preferences aside, in reality it is an excellent technique for telling this story.        

Distractions

What mainly distracts from the book's overall effectiveness is the anecdotal side plots often explored. Many of them don't have a whole lot to do with the what the book is actually about. Though they are often very interesting, and a few do supplement the text well a lot of them just distract from what the passage/chapter is about. The other main distraction is the number of people talked about throughout the book, and the way they are introduced. Rather than giving them a strong introduction, many of them are just thrown out, often in one of the aforementioned anecdotes. This can result in confusion when characters that were poorly introduced earlier in the book are brought up, and one does not have a very clear idea of who they are. It's not a huge problem, and certainly does not significantly detract from the overall quality of the book.      

Reaction to the text

My visceral reaction to the text was surprise, and immediate interest. Before this book, I had, like most people, never heard of HeLa cells, or Henrietta Lacks' story. Finding this book was like finding a hidden little pocket of history, one that I had been totally oblivious to before. That, combined with the fact I have always been very interested in science, especially in biology, and this book is certainly a journey down the murky annals of scientific ethics, especially considering the racism of the time that Henrietta Lacks lived in. More than just piquing my interest with science and it's related morals, the story of Lacks' life, as well as the anecdotes about her relatives and the places they lived instantly drew me in. It is a book that not only has enough surprise and mystery to make me want to pick it up, it is deep and fascinating, certainly enough to make me want to read it though to the end.          

Significance of the title

The significance of the title, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", is that despite the fact that Henrietta Lacks has been dead for over 60 years, her cells are still alive today. More than just being still alive, they have been cultured and spread to an unimaginable degree. "One scientist estimates that if you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons." (Skloot 2). There is also a wordplay in how instead of her immortal life being that she is immortalized for her contributions to science, her immortal life is in how her cells are grown and spread all over the world. We can not conclude much from the title, or at least the layman can not. Most people do not even know what a HeLa cell is, much less the history of where they came from. Perhaps some people with a higher education in biology or medicine would notice how "HeLa" is stylized out of Lacks' name in the title, but the large majority of people will not conclude much from the title. As we read, we learn the aforementioned significance of the title, along with some details about Henrietta Lacks, her life, and the circumstances which the cells where discovered.