The Imortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

If your cells could make a difference in medical discoveries would you donate them to science?  Probably most people would, but Henrietta Lacks had no choice.  Henrietta lived in poverty all her life and went to John Hopkins Hospital in 1951 for charity treatment of abdominal pain which turned out to be terminal cervical cancer.

Even though neither she nor her husband authorized it, some of her tumor cells were used for cell growth and replication experiments.  Scientists at that time were working with many different cell samples to isolate ones that could replicate easily for research.  Her cells successfully duplicated faster and longer than any previous ones.

For five decades her cells have been used in labs around the world to do research on many different diseases.  They've been instrumental in developing treatments for polio, cancer, and much more.  Until recently her family was unaware of this.

While her cells have been used for multiple medical breakthroughs, her family has struggled in poverty.  Should they have been remunerated for this in some way?  Medical experimentation and treatment without consent has occurred disproportionately in the black community.  How has racism played a part in this scenario? 

Scientific journalist Rebecca Skloot intersects science, economics, racism, and ethics in this one woman's story.  If Henrietta's cells helped so many people was it wrong that the doctors took them without authorization?    This exploration into science, ethics, racism, sociology, and economics reads like a novel while covering significant challenges in these fields.

During Poetry Month (and maybe even in May and June?) you MUST check out Bern Porter's Found Poems.

Originally published in 1972 by Something Else Press, this relatively obscure volume of "founds" has been recently republished by Nightboat Books.

I'm so glad you asked what a found poem is...

      a pot

is a pot

  is a pot...

No it's not!   - Bern Porter     Found Poem (defined)

 
Brett Blumenthal's 52 Small Changes:  One Year to a Happier, Healthier You takes a big goal (being healthier) and breaks it into weekly projects that you can do to improve many areas of your life.
The book's weekly tasks cover four major areas:  Diet and Nutrition, Fitness and Prevention, Mental Well-being, and Green Living.  Each week the reader is given a new goal along with an explanation of why the goal would improve life.  Next there is a "roadmap for success" that includes steps to achieve the goal and ways to overcome obstacles.  Each goal also offers an Extra Credit assignment for those who've already achieved it.

The author also includes an ever-growing Weekly Change Checklist at the end of each chapter so readers can see the positive changes they've made.  By week 52, the amount of improvements is pretty impressive.

 
The book also includes a variety of helpful checklists for tracking specific progress areas including a food journal template, a nutrition label worksheet, an activity log, and a health prevention checklist for both men and women.

What I like most about this book is that the author knows not to overwrite a self-improvement book.  The chapters are to-the-point and lack the personal observations and life experience examples that sometimes clutter this sort of book.  The author gets right to the information and tells you what you need to know and then she gets out of your way!

I love looking at beautiful clothes.  They don't even have to be my size.  Trust me none of them in 100 Unforgettable Dresses is my size.  Oh well.  Hal Rubinstein, fashion director of InStyle magazine has chosen these dresses.  I think he has hit the nail on the head; I should say the thread thru the eye of the needle.  There are a lot more than a hundred unforgettable dresses in the world, so we could argue for a while.  However,  Rubenstein has chosen designers, actresses, princesses and other celebrities that have made a fashion statement and he writes why he believes these outfits are important in the world of fashion or in a couple of cases anti-fashion.  For example, Phyllis Diller states that she owes her fashion style to Omar of Omaha.  Could she add one more feather or electric neon sequin to her outfit?  This fashion was part of her comedic style and she always received a laugh as she strut onto the stage and posed for the audience to appreciate what she was wearing.  She was the exact opposite of the housewives of the times.  Donna Reed, Barbara Billingsley and Jane Wyatt's whose full skirted shirtwaists are also considered unforgettable.  (For those of you not old enough to remember those perfect housewives: The Donna Reed Show, Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best TV shows).  Of course Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe are included.  There are six wedding dresses mentioned, I bet you can think of two of them off the top of your head.  Guys, you might enjoy the dresses that some of the celebrities almost have on.  100 Unforgettable Dresses is a beautiful picture book for fashionistas and celebrity watchers alike.  I enjoyed Rubenstein's pointed commentary and his insights as to why the outfit is important in the fashion world.  My favorite outfit is green velvet with gold tassels and the character said she saw it in the window and she just had to have it!  Still makes me laugh after all these years.   Find your favorite fashion icon and dress by checking out 100 Unforgettable Dresses and lose yourself in the beauty of clothes.

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches From the Unfinished Civil War

by Tony Horwitz

Years 2011-2015 mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Half of the American public is enthralled. The other half is saying, "So what!,"  and asking themselves, "Why can't we all just forget about it already?"

In his book, Confederates in the Attic, Tony Horwitz asks the same question himself -- why do we still collectively obssess about the Civil War? Why do some folks in the Southern states still hold a grudge?

In seeking answers to these questions Horwitz takes a uniquely American approach. He hops in his car and goes on a road trip, William Least Heat Moon style. He immerses himself in the quirky sub-culture of Civil War battle re-enactors, tracks down and interviews a woman who at the time was the only living Confederate widow known to still exist, and visits the site of the historic Andersonville Prison, where local townsfolk have turned the infamous prison's cruel administrator into something of a folk hero.   

Horwitz's road trip down the blue highways of the Southern psyche is not always enthralling, to be sure. He encounters pent up racism from both sides of the divide, and in one sobering moment has a heated shout down with the teacher of a Louis Farrakhan inspired class for at-risk African American teens. 

The delicate juggling act that Horwitz pulls off with topics alternating between absurd, amusing, and deadly serious is what makes this book such an enjoyable one to read. The nostalgia-tinged first chapter alone, in which the author describes his own Russian great-grandfather's fascination with the Civil War, is well worth the time and effort. It's one of those stand-out first chapters that could exist on it's own.  

For more diversions about the Civil War check out these events at KCLS libraries: Let's Talk About it: Making Sense of the American Civil War