A book club that I am a member (Black women clinical research professionals) read this book last fall and we were so enlightened by the details of what has dramatically changed in our working arena.  I thought the book was well written by Ms Skloot, which would have been impossible without the relationship she built with the Lacks family.  We all believe that the Lacks family should receive financial compensation for the HelLa cells by all entities using them.  That is their family heritage that is being used for the advancement of science.

I was fortunate enough to hear Ms Skloot speak about her book at VCU-MCV. Additionally I met some of Ms Lacks' descendants. I read the book, which is well-written, with interest on several fronts. Beyond the science history and ethics, the book was interesting to me because my family is from Clover, where Ms Lacks lived. I shared the book with my 91 year old aunt, an avid reader, who provided an interesting perspective of a different social environment. I agree that Ms Lacks' family should be compensated. To Ms Skloot's credit, she has set up a educational foundation for the Lacks family with some of the profits from the book. When I heard Ms Lacks speak, at least one family member was going to college on a Lacks foundation scholarship.

Edit last line: When I heard Ms Skloot speak

Interesting blog on Henrietta Lacks:

http://blogs.plos.org/takeasdirected/2010/05/31/marking-the-magnificent-memory-of-henrietta-lacks/ 

Some time ago, I wrote a post for my blog (Ethos&Technos) whit this theme. It is available in Spanish “La vida inmortal: trascendencia y legado de Henrietta Lacks”  (http://medicablogs.diariomedico.com/santos/2010/02/20/la-vida-inmortal-trascendencia-y-legado-de-henrietta-lacks-2/ )

Some time ago I wrote a post for my blog whit this theme (in Spanish). It is available in http://medicablogs.diariomedico.com/santos/2010/02/20/la-vida-inmortal-trascendencia-y-legado-de-henrietta-lacks-2/