Name: Florian's review of Immune by Philipp Dettmer
Item: Immune
Rating: 3
Author: Florian

Philipp Dettmer

Second only to the human brain in its complexity, the human immune system is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Philipp Dettmer takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defenses. Each chapter - with engaging full-colour graphics and immersive descriptions - delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies and cancer. Print run 75,000.

A Journey Into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

Immune

Florian

[…] rufen uns in Erinnerung, dass noch unsere Großeltern ein wesentlich härteres Lebern hatten als wir. Daten des Krankenhauses von Boston von 1941 zeigen, dass damals achtzig Prozent aller bakteriellen Infektionen im Blut zum Tod führten. Wir können uns den Schrecken hinter dieser Zahl heute kaum vorstellen: Ein kleiner Kratzer und etwas Dreck in der Wunde konnten ausreichen, um daran zu sterben. Heute sind in den entwickelten Ländern weniger als ein Prozent solcher Infektionen tödlich. Die Tatsache, dass wir an so etwas heute keinen Gedanken mehr verschwenden, beweist, wie Schnell der Mensch vergisst und einfach mit dem Leben weitermacht - und welches Glück wir haben, heute zu leben und nicht in der Vergangenheit.

Dominik Hofer

Good overview of the immune system - a bit long for that though. Seems like it’s written more for a younger less scientific audience.

砂の

Pierre

Everyone should read this. Everyone can! Just go get it and read it.

Anton

I thought it is impossible to be sad because a book on biology is over

Jeffrey Jose

If you've seen Kurzgesagt on YouTube, you know Philip is really good at taking hard scientific problems and simplifying it for the masses. He has a unique storytelling style that keeps audiences engaged with humor. He isnt afraid of anthropomorphism when needed, but is aware of what he's doing. 

This book is all that and much more. He speaks directly to the reader/listener with this book, and Steve Taylor's voice - the same narrator of his YouTube videos - provides a sense of familiarity right from the get go, if you're listening to the audiobook.

The book is filled with details, and I learned so much about a system that is crucial to our survival and existence. Philip is careful not to bore readers/listeres with technical jargon, so when he introduces technical names, he jokes about how absurd some of those are. He takes the liberty to substitue molecules with real life objects (there's a section with hotdog buns and weiners) which makes it super easy for a casual reader/listener to follow along. With the COVID-19 pandemic, so much of immunology has been part of regular discourse, so it is very lucky that Philip decided to talk about this.

I'm no doubt that this book will go onto become of the classics of biology/medicine similar to Emperor of Maladies (cancer).

Zack Apira

Overall a very informative and approachable book for such a mindblowingly complex subject. The text is easily digestible and engaging in the Kurzgesagt style I’ve come to know and love. There are a lot of analogies to illustrate scale or purpose of certain immune cell features which I found tremendously useful. And those beautiful graphics throughout the book really help visualize what our microscopic helpers look like and what they do.

However these immune cells are heavily anthropomorphized which I don’t like seeing too much with scientific subjects, but I understand that to not do so would make the book much less approachable.

I still highly recommend this for those looking to get a solid understanding of this system that keeps you alive.

Aaron Nino

Liam Holbrook

Erik Horton

Guillermo Rodas

Paula

A gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular science YouTube channel Kurzgesagt—In a Nutshell “Through wonderful analogies and a genius for clarifying complex ideas, Immune is a truly brilliant introduction to the human body’s vast system for fighting infections and other threats.”—John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars You wake up and feel a tickle in your throat. Your head hurts. You’re mildly annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself. Meanwhile, an epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you head out the door. But most of us never really stop to ask: What even is our immune system? Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In Immune, Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defenses. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us, full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In fact, in the time you’ve been reading this, your immune system has probably identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body. Each chapter delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies, and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body’s defenses, how viruses work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself. Enlivened by engaging full-color graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects—immunology—into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien landscape. Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.

Dominik Hofer &
Immune by Philipp Dettmer

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Dominik Hofer &
Immune by Philipp Dettmer