IMMUNE: A JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERIOUS SYSTEM THAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE Hardcover – 2 November 2021

I've been watching Kurzgesagt for quite some time now and I've always been fascinated by their work. This book is no different. Just like their videos, this book upholds the values of Kurzgesagt. The book explains the very complex topic in a very simple and fun to read language that goes easy on the mind of any reader.It's made of high quality paper and the visuals are appealing to the eyes, just like their videos. I'm not even studying Biology, I bought this book purely out of curiosity and while I expected it to quite difficult to keep up with, it's the exact opposite. With each page I just want to read further without stopping.For anyone who wants to know about the immune system, this book is probably the best way to start as it gives you a glimpse of the vast (and apparently mind-numbing) world of immunology in a very fun manner and a very easy to understand manner ;)

IMMUNE by Philipp Dettmer is not only a highly illustrated book full of information, it is set in a very readable typeface. Dettmer provides recent and well distilled knowledge on the mysterious system that keeps our bodies alive. This defence system has evolutionary old, and comparatively recent systems, the innate and adaptive respectively.The most discerning feature of the book is: the metaphors colour every line. Most complex facets of the immune system of human body are presented before the reader in easily digestible language. Here is an example. The book says for viruses and bacteria our skin is a 'film of death'; it is a real 'hellhole'; and also a 'salty desert.'A masterly skill of the writer slowly enters reader's psyche, and leaves indelible imprint. Each component cell of the immune system has a chapter with colour figures, and the entity is introduced with its most discerning features. For example, a Dendritic Cell is the mighty messanger and intelligence officer.The central attribute of the defense strategy of the immune system, Dettmer underlines, is to distinguish between the 'self' and the 'other.' Immune system has developed ways to mark the cells and molecules as belonging to the body, the self, and also allow those which are essential resource for the body (oxygen, water and other). Whereas cells and molecules, the bacteria, viruses, worms and toxins are marked as the 'other' by the immune system. The book, in each chapter refers to these others which are ready to enter our body and devour it's cells. The immune system is the defense system that our species has evolved to check this.Our body, Dettmer argues is a group of various kinds of specialised cells, a highly cooperative organisation, where the immune cells has the role of maintenance of homeostasis within the body when it is disturbed by the hordes of barbarians, the millions of species of viruses alone. The recent one we witnessed globally is the pandemic caused by 'coronavirus' that is COVID-19.Dittmer theorizes that the interactions among the cells of this organisation, that is the human body, do astonishing things, that any cell can not do alone. These cells, he underlines, are nothing but bags of proteins guided by biochemistry. But together these proteins form a living system that can do really very sophisticated things. Building the unique structure of our body, and laying foundations of behavioural interactions, including the defense system.The immune system is highly sophisticated, each cell of this system undergoes hard training to distinguish between friends and foes. The error, if any, in this training is fatal to the survival of body. However, errors do occur. The viruses and bacteria also evolve new ways to enter into our body. And the Adaptive Immune System has to learn these new ways atleast once in life. And then it stores the information in its memory cells which romes all over the body to keep watch on enemy. The autoimmune diseases are examples of such lapses to wrongly identify the 'other', on the part of immune cells. In such rare cases the immune cells began killing cells of own body, the 'self.'In the end Philipp Dettmer does not hesitate to guide the reader about hygiene, and it's role in immunity. He warns about the flourishing business of boosting immunity. The most feasible way, he writes, is to lower the burden of stress, and enhance mental health.

Great for curious readers, if I say the truth the illustrations are great and the book is just great I am reading it and I found it interesting I recommend this to science lover and immunology lover

The book provides a simple breakdown of components of our immunity and explains how they interact and fight. Pictures in the book provides a practical aid. The hardcover and print is great quality as well.

Wow!... very easy to understand and clear. Rich with diagrams makes understanding easier. Quality is the best and makes it pay for the price .

A lot to learn in the book. My son learned the basics of the immune system in detail. It is very simple to understand and there are very nice illustrations which makes it interesting.

Lots of other comments have praised the book for what it is, so I will tell a secondary use for this book.I am a Physics major student, going to start college and picked this out of curiousity. Firstly, it's detailed exactly right; informative but not too burdensome, and the explanation are top notch, I understood a lot of immune system thanks to it.However, I feel people in class 10th, can use this book as a filter for picking Medical Science in 11-12th. If you can understand this book, and complete it in seven days in class 10th, you can probably survive the NEET preperation phase and the medical studies in college.I personally had to pick up a notebook and write notes to keep up, but not a lot, about 20 pages.Definitely recommended.

Engaging thought provoking