Relevant Literature

I was actually a little bit late on finally purchasing the book, but now that I have I can't put it down. It is truly addicting. Rebecca Skloot did such an amazing job at capturing the different aspects of the life leading up to and the continuation of the HeLa cell line. My favorite thing about this book is that it is written in a manner that even without previous experience within the field of research and medicine anyone can appreciate this as a good read. Thus far with finishing the first part of the book it really makes me appreciate just how short of a time has passed in our country since the civil rights movement. To hear about things in a classroom setting and to read a descriptive narrative based in the time that doesn't seem that far away on a timeline but eons ago in an ethical stand point is quite sobering. It makes me have more of an appreciation for the views that my grandparents have that I myself find archaic. Also I was fascinated by the medical treatments of the time such as the pap smear just being developed and the manner in which Henrietta's cancer was treated with radium and also the differences in lab techniques. Overall I am thoroughly enjoying the book but my favorite aspect isn't even the book itself. I volunteer at St. Bernardine Medical Center when I have the time and I just wanted to comment on a Doctor I was speaking with this last Friday. I was telling him my goals and back story and he asked if I enjoyed reading. I told him I did and he recommended a few books for me to check out including "The Cry and the Covenant" which is a fictional depiction of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss in his attempts to popularize sterile technique prior to surgery, my next read. Then he asked me if I was currently reading anything and I told him that I was reading the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and he became excited because he too was currently reading it. It was just nice to have a more intellectual conversation with a professional as we divulged into the book for about thirty minutes analyzing what we'd read and what we knew as a back story and he told me of his own story as he actually attended medical school in 1954. This is probably one of my favorite projects I've had to do in college so far and it's nice to have something more in common with otherwise mildly intimidating professionals.