Wow. This was definitely something I'm glad I read and I definitely learned something new. Science was never my favorite in school and biology definitely even less my favorite. So maybe I missed the discussion of cell culture and Hela cells but I think I would have remembered this topic. And I'm kind of bummed we didn't learn about this- it would have made me much more interested in biology. 
 The book is really well written so that the sciencey bits aren't too complicated to understand but not overly simplified so that it's condescending, and the history is interesting and factual but not too bogged down by too much information. This is very immersive and really well planned- the jumping back and forth in time should be confusing but it somehow worked out nicely. I found this to be a real page turner and definitely a great non-fiction read.