How Long to Read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

How Long Does it Take to Read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?

It takes the average reader 6 hours and 50 minutes to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

Now an HBO(R) Film starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne. 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, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons--as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. 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. Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the "colored" ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta's small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia--a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo--to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. 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, who was devastated to learn about her mother's cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? 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.

How long is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is 410 pages long, and a total of 102,500 words.

This makes it 138% the length of the average book. It also has 125% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 9 hours and 20 minutes to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks aloud.

What Reading Level is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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