Book Review: An Elegant Defense

This heft of a book (over 400 pages) was quite challenging, but I found it fascinating. An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives is both scientific exposition and narrative explanation. Author Matt Richtel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist, introduces the history of scientific advancement in immunology. Heady stuff, but Richtel has a keen eye for rendering it in laymen's terms. By pairing the science with stories, he introduces concepts, the bones, so to speak, and fleshes them out with the skin layers.

Our complex immune system plays a pivotal role in our lives. I know I take it for granted. I assume that when I encounter a virus, my body will kick in to fight off the intruder. The complexity is staggering and, equally, astounding. This elegant defense against the attacks of illness is magnificent to behold. So many perplexing processes: vaccines, transplants, inflammation and fever, the overuse of antibiotics, our need to encounter germs, the influence of the microbiome and sleep, cancer, how wounds heal, autoimmune disorders, etc. Like I said, fascinating!

So, who are the four individuals? One is a man whose immune system valiantly fights off cancer again and again. Another is a man defying the threat of HIV. Two are women, with autoimmune disorders, seeking to regain balance when their immune systems kick into overdrive. Through their stories, you will glimpse scientific discoveries and meet numerous doctors who have devoted their lives to the study of the immune system. You will learn of hybrid mice, injected with human DNA. Even though the book dips into the deep waters of scientific concepts, a translator is at your side. Prepare to marvel at the complexity of how the body works.