Announcement: I am
getting back into audiobooks from the library.
They are the perfect accompaniment to nighttime motherhood & head
housekeeper chores after the little one goes to sleep when all I really want to
do is curl up with a book and relax my brain.
So what better to do that with than a book about the history
of research on human cells? That’s right
fellow nerds, I just read The Immortal
Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoot.
If I had really known what this book was about, I would not have listened
to it. But it was available from the
library, got a great rating on Goodreads and won lots of awards, so I quickly
downloaded it so I could get going on the dishes.
There were points when I wasn’t sure I would finish this
book. It’s a true story of an African
American woman whose cells have been reproducing in labs since the 50s and have
led to all kinds of advances in modern medicine. Her family was unaware her cells were still
living for many years and in sad irony grew up too poor to afford health insurance.
Skoot gives an extremely thorough rundown of this topic, in
a way that even someone who spent most of high school Biology passing notes to
friends could understand. However I don’t
have a ton of interest in scientific research (which makes me feel pretty dumb
when I admit that. But it’s true.)
The human interest part of the story – about Henrietta Lacks’
life and that of her descendants I found really interesting. And the audiobook narrator was really
good. So, I stuck it out, cooked lots of
organic veggies for my girl and have just the slightest bit of snooty pride about the whole thing. (Both the
book and the organic veggies.)
Don’t worry, Jane will put me back in my place by feeding
organic veggies to World’s Most Available Dog During Mealtime, Norman.
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| Yes, I made a post about human cell research about my cute kid eating vegetables. It's a gift, people! |
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| Someone is on a mission to get chubby. It's working. |
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