Books like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

01

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

Siddhartha Mukherjee · Science

The Emperor of All Maladies is Siddhartha Mukherjee's account of cancer from antiquity to the present — its biology, its treatments, its false dawns, and the scientists and patients caught in the middle of each.

A kindred science read.

02

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi · Memoir

When Breath Becomes Air is Paul Kalanithi's account of his life before and after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at 36, while completing his residency in neurosurgery at Stanford.

A kindred science read.

03

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Atul Gawande · Health

Being Mortal is Atul Gawande's investigation into why modern medicine is so bad at helping people die well.

A kindred science read.

04

The Gene: An Intimate History

Siddhartha Mukherjee · Science

The Gene is Siddhartha Mukherjee's account of the gene — what it is, how it was discovered, and what humanity has done and might yet do with that knowledge.

Both dig into medical ethics.

05

Educated: A Memoir

Tara Westover · Memoir

Educated is Tara Westover's memoir about growing up in a survivalist family in rural Idaho and eventually earning a PhD in history from Cambridge University.

A kindred science read.

06

The Song of the Cell

Siddhartha Mukherjee · Science

The Song of the Cell is Siddhartha Mukherjee's account of how the cell — the basic unit of life — was discovered, decoded, and eventually harnessed to rebuild and repair the human body.

Both dig into cell biology.

07

The Vital Question

Nick Lane · Science

The Vital Question asks why life is the way it is — why all complex life is eukaryotic, why eukaryotes all have mitochondria, why sex exists, why organisms age and die, and why life may be exceedingly rare in the universe.

Both dig into cell biology.

08

Bad Pharma

Ben Goldacre · Health

Bad Pharma is Ben Goldacre's sustained indictment of the pharmaceutical industry's manipulation of clinical trial evidence, and of the regulatory and academic institutions that have failed to stop it.

Both dig into medical ethics.

09

East of Eden

John Steinbeck · Literary fiction

East of Eden is Steinbeck's self-declared masterwork, a long and ambitious novel published in 1952 that traces two families — the Trasks and the Hamiltons — across two generations in California's Salinas Valley.

Both dig into family legacy.

10

Flowers for Algernon

Daniel Keyes · Science fiction

Flowers for Algernon is narrated through progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old man with an intellectual disability who becomes the first human subject in an experimental surgery designed to dramatically increase intelligence.

Both dig into medical ethics.

11

The Biology of Belief

Bruce H. Lipton · Health

The Biology of Belief is Bruce Lipton's argument that cells are controlled by signals from their environment rather than by genetic programs, and that human beings, as collections of cells, are therefore more powerfully shaped by their beliefs and perceptions than by their DNA.

Both dig into cell biology.

12

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking · Science

A Brief History of Time is Stephen Hawking's attempt to explain the biggest questions in physics — where the universe came from, how it behaves, and where it might be going — to readers with no scientific training.

A kindred science read.