September Heaven Hill Employee Book Club Pick: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Each month we will announce a new book and send a copy to those who sign up. Book genres will vary each month to offer an array of titles for all areas of interest. Employees will have a few weeks to read the book before the meeting. During the meeting, we will discuss overall thoughts of the book, themes, character development and more.
Participation is completely optional, and you can alternate which months you participate based on interest in the book pick. Those who sign up will receive a calendar invite for the book club meeting. The book club is open to all employees across the organization and we encourage anyone who is interested to sign up!
Even if you are unable to make it to the club meeting, you can still request a book and join in the chat on the teams group.
September Book Club Pick:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.
Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences. Description via Amazon.com.
We will host two September Book Club meetings on September 23, 2021 to accommodate various schedules: Noon – 12:45PM EST and 6:00PM – 6:45PM EST.
How to Sign Up:
Email the following information to Ashley Downs ([email protected]).
The sign-up deadline is end of day Monday, August 23, 2021.
First and last name
Heaven Hill location where you work
Best address to send your copy of this month’s book
Which meeting you prefer to attend
