Elegant Defense, An: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives

Just finished reading this extraordinary book that talks about our miraculous Immune system. I devoured this ( close to 500 pages ) book in less than two weeks. Something that I have not done in a while. It was educative, eye opening and intriguing almost throughout. It’s phenomenal just how much we ( the human race ) have understood about the complexity of the immune system and that too perhaps only in the last 50 years. It’s as complex a system ( perhaps more ) as the brain with so many moving parts all working magically together.Read this book if you want to know how our elegant defense ( the peace keeping officers ) protects us every second.Read this book if you want to understand how we coexist with a million pathogens around us.Read this book to understand why diversity is so important and why we see it all around us.Read this book if you want to understand the importance of diet, sleep, stress, staying active and the role it plays in keeping your immune system in balance and more so what happens when your immune system goes off balance.Read this book if you want to know how cutting edge immunotherapy treatment is, for Cancer, Auto immunity and many other diseases, some of which are probably even yet to come.Also read this book if you want to understand the risks behind tinkering with the immune system ( immunotherapy ), something which we have only started understanding very recently.Just read this book :)

Good book to understand immunity and body cell system

Such a thrilling book that combines science, innovation and experience of people involved in it

In laymen terms author explained the immune system in four original stories, it is also a thank you note from author to his friend.

If you want to know in depth how the immune system works, and the attempts made by the medical field to understand it, then this is the book for you.

This book had potential. It could have been much, much better.I hope the author publishes a second edition of this book. The story he has here is a terrific one and needs to be told. He obviously did an amazing job interviewing some of the best minds working in the field of Immunology. The case histories of the four people he focuses on are very personal and emotional. I’m afraid he just didn’t grasp the terrible complexity of immunology and didn’t do his homework. I don’t blame him, though. Immunology is notorious for being difficult. He gave it a shot, although given his gift of storytelling and his penchant for research, it could’ve been one of the, if not the best popular science books on Immunology.I really, really liked the premise of this book. I really wanted to like it, but it had a few glaring defects that I just couldn’t ignore.1. The book really needs some basic editing. There are quite a few typos and missing verbs.2. The book really needed a biologist to at least check for some basic facts. “Protest” parasites? (Pg 51) Looks like the spellcheck autocorrected Protist.3. References - this was a big one. I’m not sure why the author decided to leave the references out. Anyone who wants to follow up on any of the fascinating topics and research papers discussed in this book is left in the dark, searching for clues like “a case history of lupus that appeared in 2016 in the vaunted medical journal The Lancet.” Why not just cite the paper?All in all, an OK read. I don’t regret reading it, but won’t recommend it to anyone either. Hope there is a second edition in the works.

Its a well written book which traces the history of how different immunity mechanisms were discovered laced with stories of individuals who have suffered from various diseases.However if you are looking for information that will help you with action points on how to remain healthy then avoid this book and pick up Life Force by Tony Robbins instead.For those who have already bought the book (like i did based on a recommendation from a friend), read chapters 32, 34, 35 and 54. You will get a few pointers on the aspects which are in your control for a healthier life. You can speed read the rest.

A journalist reporting of the immune system a good attempt but lacking in scientific reasoning in most instancesInstead the book Spillover has better content and is seamlessly narrated in well over 500 pages

An engaging and detailed description of the recent developments in understanding the Immune System.

Really enjoyed it.

A mighty venture in a difficult and hidden field which is science, molecules, most of all the immune system, alghough not easy to put into comprehensible words, the author managed to give us an "elegant" explanation . A masterpiece, mingled with humanity and a great sensitiveness.

... sur le système immunitaire et les virus.Là ou l'auteur est brillant c'est que ça se lit comme un roman, et donc c'est assez abordable pour les non scientifiques.Très bien.

Excellent book, moved me to tears at times. The personal anecdotes were very poignant.Very happy with this buy. I read this at the start of lockdown. Complex subject matter but easy to understand.