What is immunity
January 1, 2022 11:47 AM Subscribe
I would like to read a longish article or shortish book about immunity and 'the immune system'. Not just immunity 101. Most interested in the 'memory' aspect of immunity. Something relatively recent.
I don't need the CDC fact sheet or the high school biology textbook entry on immunity. Something a bit more in depth that may include what we don't know about how immunity works.
I'm imagining a great long-form popular science article or a thoughtful and well written book that was published within the last 5 years or so. A thought provoking podcast or an in-depth documentary would work too.
I'm most interested in memory cells and in general how our bodies 'remember' pathogens to which we have already been exposed.
I don't need the CDC fact sheet or the high school biology textbook entry on immunity. Something a bit more in depth that may include what we don't know about how immunity works.
I'm imagining a great long-form popular science article or a thoughtful and well written book that was published within the last 5 years or so. A thought provoking podcast or an in-depth documentary would work too.
I'm most interested in memory cells and in general how our bodies 'remember' pathogens to which we have already been exposed.
I haven’t read it but yesterday’s Science Friday book roundup recommended Immune: A Journey Into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive By Philip Detmer. They were pretty positive about it (the transcript is here.)
posted by janell at 12:01 PM on January 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by janell at 12:01 PM on January 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have heard great things about On Immunity by Eula Biss.
posted by Lluvia at 2:56 PM on January 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Lluvia at 2:56 PM on January 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Came here to recommend Immune as well.
I ordered it for myself this Christmas and have read about one third. I'm a doc so I knew a lot of this stuff or at least I've studied it before but never liked the way it was taught. I like it a lot because it's very readable and at the same time not too dumbed down.
The reason I haven't finished it is that a friend in the humanities visited me and started reading and she literally could not pull herself away and so I lent it to her. I miss it and will probably reorder it for myself. I usually get ebooks when there's an option but this is one of the books where the quality of the hardcover justifies the cost IMO.
posted by M. at 3:39 PM on January 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I ordered it for myself this Christmas and have read about one third. I'm a doc so I knew a lot of this stuff or at least I've studied it before but never liked the way it was taught. I like it a lot because it's very readable and at the same time not too dumbed down.
The reason I haven't finished it is that a friend in the humanities visited me and started reading and she literally could not pull herself away and so I lent it to her. I miss it and will probably reorder it for myself. I usually get ebooks when there's an option but this is one of the books where the quality of the hardcover justifies the cost IMO.
posted by M. at 3:39 PM on January 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
On Immunity by Eula Biss is a fantasic book and I recommend it unconditionally to everyone, but it's a humanities book about sociology and culture of immunity and disease, not a popular science book, so I don't think it will address the specific questions the OP has.
posted by caek at 3:48 PM on January 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by caek at 3:48 PM on January 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Immunology is Where Intuition Goes to Die by Ed Yong in The Atlantic from August 2020
posted by eyeball at 10:43 PM on January 1, 2022
posted by eyeball at 10:43 PM on January 1, 2022
How the Immune System Works is the book we were asked to read before our immunology course in medical school, so that we would be starting with some knowledge of the subject. It is an excellent, accessible book that is also complete and doesn’t simplify things to the point of barely being true anymore.
posted by amy.g.dala at 5:10 AM on January 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by amy.g.dala at 5:10 AM on January 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Beautiful Cure (2018) by Daniel Davis is not quite what [I think] you are asking for, but close
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:10 AM on January 2, 2022
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:10 AM on January 2, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
My spouse works in the sciences although he is not an immunologist or biologist, he has been impressed with it so far, and says it seems pretty accurate (and as someone who does not work in the sciences, I've found it accessible and interesting too).
posted by rogerroger at 12:00 PM on January 1, 2022 [3 favorites]