The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
Price: £2.81

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Start reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks [Unabridged] [Paperback]

Rebecca Skloot
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (186 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.00 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want delivery by Saturday, 25 May? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £2.99  
Hardcover, Large Print £20.40  
Paperback, Unabridged £5.99  
Audio, CD, Audiobook --  
Audio Download, Unabridged £18.74 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more.

Book Description

23 Dec 2010 0330533444 978-0330533447 1
The internationally bestselling story of a young woman whose death in 1951 changed medical science for ever . . .

Frequently Bought Together

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks + The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance + The Emperor of All Maladies
Price For All Three: £19.77

Some of these items are dispatched sooner than the others.

Buy the selected items together


Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Pan; 1 edition (23 Dec 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0330533444
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330533447
  • Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (186 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

'It's a harrowing story and Rebecca Skloot tells it well.' --Sunday Telegraph Paperback Pick

'An extraordinary mix of memoir and science reveals the story of how one woman's cells have saved countless lives.'
--Daily Telegraph

'extraordinary . . . This haunting account of [Henrietta Lacks'] and her family's treatment unearths appalling racism and injustice beneath the beauty and drama of scientific discovery.' --Guardian

`Compelling story of the unsung woman whose cells have been used in dozens of medical breakthroughs.'
--Sunday Times

Book Description

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells -- taken without her knowledge -- became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences . . . Balancing the beauty and drama of scientific discovery with dark questions about who owns the stuff our bodies are made of, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an extraordinary journey in search of the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells live on today in all four corners of the world. 'A fascinating, harrowing, necessary book' Hilary Mantel, Guardian ‘A heartbreaking account of racism and injustice’ Metro 'A fine book... a gripping read...The book has deservedly been a huge bestseller in the US. It should be here, too' Sunday Times

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Search inside this book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
132 of 137 people found the following review helpful
By Lady Fancifull TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
In 1951 human tissue culture was in its infancy, with researchers struggling to keep cells alive beyond a few cellular generations; normal cells are subject to apoptosis (programmed cellular lifespan/death)

Henrietta Lacks, a poor young black woman, was admitted to hospital in Baltimore in 1951 with an exceptionally invasive and aggressive cancer.

A standard biopsy was taken of her cancerous cells. She did not know that the biopsy would not be used purely for diagnostic purposes, but also tissues would be used for research. No consent was sought for this. In 1951 and indeed still today samples of tissue taken for diagnostic purposes can be used for other purposes - we do not own our tissues once they are no longer part of us.

Cancer cells are not subject to apoptosis. The particular aggressiveness of Henrietta Lack's cancer yielded astonishing results for tissue culture, and within a short space of time the `HeLa' cell line was being used for a wide number of medical research studies world wide, whether testing the actions of many pharmaceutical drugs or as part of the human genome project, and more.

`HeLa' has had profound, beneficial effects on probably most of us who benefit from modern medicine. HeLa has earned millions of dollars and much prestige for many predominantly white male scientists, as patents have been taken out on advances only possible through tissue culture using the HeLa line

However, Henrietta's family were unaware of the rich legacy she left the world - or the rich financial legacy reaped by institutions and individuals. In fact, they remained poor and unable to afford healthcare.

Rebecca Skloot has written an angering, compassionate and educative book, looking not only at the science made possible by HeLa - but also exposing the arrogance, hypocrisy and callousness of some individuals and establishments within scientific research. She also tells the story of Henrietta and the Lacks family - indeed, formed strong relationships with that family. Inevitably, given time and place the book is also a shameful expose of how America used its poor in unethical `research' very little different from the `research' which Mengele and others were using in concentration camps a decade or so earlier

This book pulls no punches, and may not be for those sensitive to medical issues - there are graphic descriptions of medical procedures and the ravages of terminal illness. It is, however, extraordinary.
Was this review helpful to you?
98 of 103 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves immortal status 13 Feb 2010
By E. Yong
Format:Hardcover
This is without question the best non-fiction book I've read in years. Skloot's debut is thrilling, original and refuses to be shoehorned into anything as trivial as a genre. Equal parts popular science, historical biography and detective novel, it reads as evocatively as any work of fiction.

Skloot repeatedly appears as a character in her own book, narrating her journey from first hearing about HeLa cells in a classroom to her attempts to contact and support the Lacks family. Her narration reveals the trials that the Lacks family have undergone since Henrietta's cells went global, and the sheer amount of trust it took to uncover the details of this story.

But this is really a book about three heroines - the two whose names grace the cover and Henrietta's daughter, Deborah Lacks. Skloot's personal mission to tell this story and Deborah's quest to know about her mother's life and legacy are central parts of Henrietta's story and they form some of the book's most compelling segments.

I write this review as someone who isn't typically a fan of historical non-fiction. Particularly in popular science, I often find descriptions of researchers to be distracting attempts at shoehorning in a human element that is out of keeping with the rest of the book. Not so here - this work has the most human of stories at its core, and never deviates from that important, and often heartbreaking, humanity. When science appears, it does so effortlessly, with explanations of cell anatomy or techniques like "fluorescence in situ hybridization" seamlessly worked into descriptions of the coloured wards of Johns Hopkins hospital to Lacks's hometown of Clover, Virginia.

Skloot's prose is witty, lyrical, economical and authoritative. But The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is not a comfortable read. Learning about Henrietta's devastating radiation treatments, the history of experiments on black Americans and the events in the book's conclusion are heart-rending. But the story is uplifting too, particularly in a stand-out chapter where Henrietta's children, Deborah and Zakariyya, visit a cancer researcher to see their mother's cells under a microscope.

All of this is to be expected of a book that refuses to shy away from tackling important themes - the interplay between science and ethics, the question of who owns our bodies, and the history of racism in the US. Actually considering these issues seems to be too much for some people, like the anonymous reviewer who appears to be attacking a straw-man version of the book. Those who actually make the effort to read the book and heart the story will be rewarded for it.

For all its grand scope, skilful writing and touching compassion, there is one simple element that makes The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks an instant classic - this is one of those stories that genuinely needed to be told. By right, it will achieve the same immortal status as the cells it describes.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting book 23 Sep 2011
Format:Paperback
I am not a scientist and tend to mostly read non-fiction. I bought this book because it was on special offer and started to read it somewhat reluctantly. After only a few pages, however, I found myself totally gripped by the story. The author declares it to be a a work of non-fiction. It is so much more than this. It is a turns a fascinating account of a bygone era both in terms of family relations, poverty and the history of medicine. It is extremely educational for someone like me, who would have struggled to describe a cell and its functions. Although I could in no way relate to the story of Henrietta Lacks's family and their subsequent brushes with the law and dysfunctional family relationships, I thought the author wrote about them with sensitivity and understanding and, according to her account, worked hard to bridge the gaps between herself and them. I cannot rate this book highly enough.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A MOST MEMORABLE BOOK!
This remarkable true story that changed the ways of dealing with a certain type of cancer` forever, is quite a read! You are held by the story throughout!. Read more
Published 2 days ago by J. Marshall
5.0 out of 5 stars Hela book
I saw this book reviewed some months ago and have been keen to read it since. I took it for my first choice on my Kindle. Read more
Published 11 days ago by S. E. Hardman
3.0 out of 5 stars Bit to much about cells
Found the background relating to the family very interesting but like a lot of readers I'm sure skipped much of the technical stuff glad I read it though we all owe Henrietta a... Read more
Published 13 days ago by jean hatton
2.0 out of 5 stars Some of it good
This is based on a true story, and the actual story could have stood Alone as a good book, but the medical part of this book was tiring.
Published 20 days ago by Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking book
This was a really powerful read and a must for anyone who has an interest at any level in ethics.
Published 22 days ago by Cheekymonkey
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!
Having read some of the 1 and 2 star reviews prior to starting on this book and was a bit worried that as a clinician researcher I might find it frustrating. Read more
Published 25 days ago by Maresa B
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertainingly Educational
I really enjoyed this book, a fascinating read about the development of cancer treatment. You really feel for the Lacks family at the end.
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. S. Heynes
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for biologists
A really interesting mix of sociology, race history, cell culture, politics etc. Fascinating. I now want to know more about Geys.
Published 1 month ago by Mr. R. Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars Half way through, it's unputdownable
This book is fascinating, educational and incredibly touching; it should be on all school reading lists. All round great read.
Published 1 month ago by P. Daruwalla
5.0 out of 5 stars A story that needs to be known
This an incredible true life story which needs to be known.

It mixes Science, Faith, Racism and Theft and is expertly woven into a gripping narrative by Rebecca Skloot,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Gtops
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
What would you like to read in a autobiography? 1 24 Oct 2011
biography 0 4 Mar 2011
See all 2 discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges