Saratoga Reads Announces This Year's Top Book
The program’s first nonfiction choice tells a compelling story, probes ethical issues
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot has been selected by public vote as this year’s book of choice for Saratoga Reads, the community-wide reading program now marking its eighth year.
The widely acclaimed book—the first nonfiction work to be selected as a Saratoga Reads top choice—tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman who sought treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951. During treatment, and without her consent, samples of her cancer tissue were taken for medical and scientific experimentation. For 60 years, cells reproduced from those samples have been used in research that has led to dozens of medical breakthroughs, including research on the human papilloma virus and advances in the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization.
The book is not only a biography of Lacks and her family, many of whom live in poverty, unable to afford health care, but also a revealing account of medical research and the variety of ethical questions it poses. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she has remained virtually unknown, with scientists referring to her only by the code name HeLa.
Said U.S News & World Report, “Skloot explores human consequences of the intersection of science and business, rescuing one of modern medicine’s inadvertent pioneers from an unmarked grave.” Noted National Public Radio, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a remarkable feat of investigative journalism and a moving work of narrative nonfiction that reads with the vividness and urgency of fiction. It also raises sometimes uncomfortable questions with no clear-cut answers about whether people should be remunerated for their physical, genetic contributions to research and about the role of profit in medicine.”
A New York Times Best Seller, the book was featured on the 2010 best-of-the-year lists by more than 60 critics. It is the winner of the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Nonfiction, the Wellcome Trust Book Prize, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Award for Excellence in Science Writing, and the Medical Journalists’ Association Open Book Award.
“Rebecca Skloot has used her investigative skills to uncover an important story in our history and has transformed it into a book that is incredibly accessible and compelling,” said Tabitha Orthwein, chair of the Saratoga Reads board. “Henrietta’s story will engage the Saratoga community in a wealth of conversations and programs over the coming months.”
With the announcement of this year’s winning title, the community is encouraged to read the book and to develop and participate in a range of educational and cultural activities related to the book’s themes. To encourage young readers and families to participate, Saratoga Reads will announce a list of “junior companion books” in early December.
Some 460 votes were cast by the public in selecting this year’s book from among five contenders. The other four books on the ballot consisted of two novels, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Eagan and Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, and two nonfiction works, The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, and Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.
Saratoga Reads will officially launch its programming for 2011-12 with a kickoff book fair on Sunday, Dec. 4, at Barnes & Noble in Wilton. The event, which will feature in-store entertainment throughout the day, will raise funds to support the organization’s free public programs.
Saratoga Reads is a Skidmore College-Saratoga collaboration.