The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

 Anyone with any interest in popular science should immediately listen to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  After hearing about a line of human cells still used in research for everything from polio to nuclear testing, Skloot decided to track down the original cell donor.  What she found led her on a years-long odyssey with the Lacks family, who were never told that Henrietta Lacks's cells were harvested before her death.  As it turns out, that sort of medical malpractice has been disturbingly common, and the audiobook is eye-opening with its accounts of clinical trials that have killed people.

Although the broader issues of medical ethics and biological research are interesting (and even science buffs will probably learn something), the heart of the story is the Lacks family, and fans of books like The Glass Castle may also find much to like in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  The narration is engaging and the story will have you sitting in the parking lot to hear what happens next.