Every summer I like to read a lot of books across a variety of genres. I also enjoy re-reading books because I often see new insights and connections.
My Summer Reading
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Skloot paints a multidimensional portrait of the dual nature of medical advances. She chronicles the stories of exploitation of Black Americans in medicine through the story of Henrietta Lacks and her cervical tumor cells (HeLa cells). Skloot uses her journey of forming a relationship with the Lacks family to put all the medical advances and doctors she describes into a broader context. I will always remember that honoring the person that a sample came from is as equally important as the research itself.
- Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
A beautiful cross-generational story centered in the city of Memphis, Tennessee in the south of the United States that covers themes from the legacy of segregation to the intimate struggles of a young female artist as she grapples with the expectations of her mother.
- Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer
An autobiographical account of how Foer learned to improve his memory, but from the perspective of a science journalist. I will always remember the concept of a memory palace. Instead of rote memorization, I should think of a place I am very familiar with, like my house, and store information in the form of unique images that occur at certain spaces as I walk though the house.
- My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
- (Currently Reading) Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson