After I finished reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks I just kept thinking about how confused her children must have been when people were telling them what they were doing with their mother's cells. I know even now, when I tell people what I did in one of my lab classes for school they can't really understand what I mean when I say "I cultured some lung cells." With that being said, I also couldn't imagine what Deborah or Zakkaryia were thinking or if they could even comprehend the photo of FISH stained HeLa cells. I just don't know what I would think, if I knew nothing at all about cells and someone gave me a picture of fluorescently colored cells. I can't imagine how confused I would be, or the kind of ideas I would come up with to help myself understand.
Also, I went onto the books website (the special features section) and it included pictures that weren't in the book. Some of the images were of Deborah holding her mother's FISH stained cells and of Deborah and Zakkaryia seeing HeLa cells in the microscope for the first time. I thought it was really cool to be able to see photos from moments in the book that were so moving.
Finally, I really thought this book was incredible; it didn't even feel like a burden to read (like most books required for classes). I would recommend it to anyone, and I actually have told a couple people to buy it and start reading. It is so amazing to see how far technology has come and it is inspiring for the future of science and technology.
Here's the link to the book's website:
http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/book-special-features/#photos
I agree, I remember one day I tried to explain to my mother how chromosomes and how they and all of the different things that could cause abnormalies and it literally went one ear and right out the other. I think it would be better is information was more readily available and in the most rudimentary way possible. But even then some people wont appreciate it, I say this only because I have tried to converse with people about these matters only to have them reply "And this is important to me, Why?" nevertheless it would be nice to see it available to those who are interested.
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