The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot *****

TheImmortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells two sad stories of the 1950s in the United States and the effects over the following half-century. The first story is about the Lacks family, poor, black, and uneducated. The second story is about the medical profession, powerful, privileged, and insensitive. Both stories chronicle some improvements, but neither one reaches a happy ending by the 21^st century.

In 1951, Henrietta Lacks was treated by Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Following the practice at the time, George Gey was given a sample of her cells. He discovered, that unlike all other human cells, these cells were immortal—they would live and reproduce in a test tube indefinitely. These cells, called HeLa, are used internationally in medical research. The family didn’t learn about this until decades later. Personal note: when I worked in biotech, not two decades ago, we used HeLa cells.

The Lacks’ story starts during Jim Crow. Johns Hopkins had a black entrance, black restrooms, and black wards. The Lacks family was poor and uneducated. One of Henrietta’s children was sent to a Hospital for the Negro Insane and probably subjected to horrific experiments (pneumo-encephalography) until she died at fifteen. Other’s spent years in jail. The family suffered from numerous untreated medical and psychiatric conditions.

The research story starts with a factory that was set up to produce HeLa cells as part of the polio vaccine trials. Soon after this, entrepreneurs set up additional factories and grew these efforts into large, profitable biotech companies. The HeLa cell line was important to research that led to many profitable diagnostic tests and treatments. Throughout this time few people even wondered about the origin of these cells. Many people benefitted monetarily and medically, but not the Lacks family.

The medical research community would like to present itself as altruistic scientists. However, in the rush to advance their careers or profits, much of their work was sloppy and useless. Fifteen years after the discovery of HeLa cells, Stanley Gartler reported that most cell lines used in research were not what they claimed to be. (They were all HeLa cells.) This was not the work of altruistic science. This was self-interest, and much like the tobacco industry, the scientists defended themselves rather than work on correcting their mistakes.

To add insult to injury, Hela cells were not only used to profit scientists, but they were also used, following the tradition of the Nazi doctors, and the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, they were used for experiments on human subjects.

If you are interested in black history or medical ethics, this is an excellent book that puts faces to these topics with a minimum of judgment.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

Islam: Faith and History by Mahmoud M Ayoub ***

Islam: Faith and History by Mahmoud M Ayoub is a complete history of Islam from the beginning in 622 CE to the 21^st century. The book is written for non-Muslims and attempts to be complete and balanced.

By 711 CE, Islam had spread to the Iberian Peninsula. (The Jews aided the invading Arabs, saw them as liberators from Latin Christian rulers.) The resulting culture was Arab in language and Arabo-Hispanic in spirit. Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in mutual tolerance for centuries. The Abbasid Caliphate ruled 750-1258 CE. During this period Arabic was a common language for religion, science, philosophy, and literature shared by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars. Under Islam Spain was the cultural center of Europe.

Five pillars of Islam: Bear witness, Daily prayers, Welfare tax, Fasting, and Pilgrimage.

If you want a comprehensive introduction to Islam, this is an excellent book. In some places, it gets bogged down in the details with long lists of names and dates, and in others, it seems to cross the line from history to propaganda. Overall it is a good background book.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

A Song for Bellafortuna by Vincent B LoCoco ****

A Song for Bellafortuna by Vincent B LoCoco is a historical novel featuring Enrico Caruso and Italian operas. Giuseppe Sanguinetti is a young boy who loves opera and has a chance meeting with Enrico Caruso before the tenor becomes famous. The tenor draws him a caricature and promises, “If you ever need me, please feel free to call upon me.” Giuseppe lives in Bellafortuna, a small town in Sicily, where Vittelio Vasaio has a death grip on the town’s farmers through high-interest loans. Everyone hates the Vasaios and wants to be free of them.

If you are interested in Italian opera, or just want a pleasant historical visit to the Sicilian countryside, this is a relaxing journey.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

P & P and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith ****

The first author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is Jane Austen, as it should be. Imagine Seth Grahame-Smith loaded the classic novel into his word processors and thought, “I’m going to add some zombies.” This is the result: Austen’s plot, characters, setting, words…well…everything…but with some zombies. This fanfiction showcases Austen’s genius. Even with a smattering of zombies, the power and beauty of the original shines through.

Methodology: I had electronic copies of both the zombie version and the original. At various points, I wondered if the zombie version was different from the original. Excepting the obvious (mentions of zombies), the zombie text was copied verbatim from the original.

The Zombies: The zombies were seasonal, increasing during the warmer, wetter times when the earth was soft, and decreasing when the earth was hard. Killing these zombies required beheading and burning. Zombies moved slowly and traveled in herds from a handful to a hundred or more. They ate brains and could be lured into traps with cauliflowers. Zombies were caused by a plague and the condition was contagious.

There some minor changes. For example, Mr. Collins was fat in the zombie version.

The five Miss Bennets were all warriors trained at the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province China. Mr. Darcy and his family were trained in Japan. In one scene Elizabeth vanquishes Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s ninja by strangling him with his intestines. This is not typical. The vast majority of the book has no zombies or violence, sticking to the original.

One nice touch was the introduction of deadly arts to the many sitting room scenes. For example, instead of stereotypical female activities shown in the original, Elizabeth might sit in the corner and sharpen blades or whittle blowgun darts. One hybrid was a scene where Elizabeth demonstrates her strength by walking on her hands. Her skirts included modesty strings to attach them to her shoes when she does this.

There were very few plot modifications. Two major changes added an Old Testament sense of vengeful justice. First Mr. Collins committed suicide leaving the Bennets in control of their home. Second Mr. Darcy broke Mr. Wickham’s legs leaving him a paraplegic.

  

If you’ve never read the original, and the idea of zombies is enough to entice you, read this book and learn why two centuries of readers have been attracted to Austen. So much of Austen’s work remains that you can appreciate her work even with the minor distraction of a few zombie interludes.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce ****

Emmeline Lake, young and single, living in London during World War II, wanted to be a war correspondent but ended up as an assistant to Mrs. Bird at Women’s Friend. Miss Lake’s job was to sort the letters into two categories: unacceptable and…almost all the letters were unacceptable. Mrs. Bird had no empathy for the readers. Miss Lake had empathy for all of them, so much she was willing to break the rules and risk everything to help them. Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce is like Sex in the City for 1941.

In addition to being a charming story about women and love, this is a historical novel about life in London during the blitz: blackouts, rationing, shelters, sirens, the Fire Brigade, land girls, and the influx of foreigners.  I was particularly entertained by the details and vocabulary.

There was a poster advising “Be Like Dad, Keep Mum.”

“I was able to pin it back and make not too bad a fist of the thing.”

If you’re looking for a humorous story of single women standing up for each other against the invading Germans and an unreasonable older generation, you’ll enjoy this book. The historical details are excellent.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith *****

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith tells the story of Francie Nolan growing up from age eleven to seventeen during the years 1912 to 1918. The family is poor, and her father is often drunk, but they’re all very happy. Francie comes from a family of strong and proud women. While the family faces many challenges, the women are never defeated or discouraged. Francie, the narrator, is an astute observer of people.

Francie, like so many young female protagonists, is an avid reader. Her mother requires her to read one page of the (stolen Gideon) Bible and one page of a (library discard) Works of Shakespeare each night. She also reads one book every day from the library.

The women in her life are Grandmother Mary Rommely, Aunts Evy and Sissy, and her mother Katie. They all have bad luck with men, but each manages. When Francie’s father’s drinking gets him fired, her mother takes up the job of janitress to provide the family room and board. When there isn’t any food, her mother has them pretend that are arctic explorers, lost and waiting for rescue. This game might be a metaphor for their life.

Francie inherited a plain-spoken pride from the family. When she went in for her inoculations, the doctor and the nurse spoke to each other as if Francie wasn’t there about how dirty she was. When she was done, and it was her brother’s turn, she said, “You don’t have to tell him. Besides, it won’t do no good. He’s a boy and he don’t care if he is dirty.” If the reader doesn’t get the point that the doctor is arrogant and without empathy, he responds (to the nurse), “I had no idea she’d understand what I was saying.”

Throughout the book, the good people are the janitors (hard-working, and empathetic), and the educated people in-charge (librarian, principal, teachers) are cold and unhappy. The one positive institution is the Union.

Francie and her brother work all their lives. When they are young, they collect junk for pennies. Later her brother Neeley delivers newspapers and Francie lies about her age and gets a job at a clipping service and later as a teletypist.

If you want to read a story of poor people thriving through hard work, positive attitudes, and native intelligence, you’ll enjoy this book. CAVEAT: the book was written in 1943, and the women ultimately get rescued by men who enter their lives.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.