About the Book

Before becoming a science writer, Skloot spent more than a decade working as a veterinary technician in animal shelters, vet clinics, emergency rooms, shelters, research labs, and an animal morgue. Those experiences, and the ethical questions they prompted, are at the center of her current book-in-progress, which explores the often controversial topic of animal research through a deeply personal story about our complex relationships with animals — their roles in our lives, and in science — and the humans who battle over their fates, and as a result, our own.

It’s a topic Skloot has been obsessed with for much of her life, just as she was obsessed with HeLa cells. For her, that core of obsession is the first and most important criteria for writing any story.

You can hear a bit about Skloot’s book-in-progress in the interviews below (which are the only ones in which she’s discussed her next book to date):

In the 2013 video below, she explains where this book started and her plans for it (including it NOT taking ten years like the first book, which came true, though not as planned: Turns out it’s taken longer). That conversation starts around time stamp 20:00 (and if you’re curious, at minute 11:00 you can hear her talk about what a derelict she was as a kid).

In  this 2018 podcast, she talks about life, the writing process, and her book-in-progress.