Book reviews

On this page, I will present and discuss some books that are related to the topic of this blog.

Immune - Philipp Dettmer

A very nice book by the creator of the famous “kurzgesagt” channel on Youtube. It absolutely skyrocketed my interest in the (human) immune system. The chapters are well-ordered which helps for an exciting narrative. While, of course, a lot of things are quite simplified in the book, the reader gets a sophisticated idea about the processes that drive the immune defense. The author also never fails to make the reader be astonished about this crazy system in our body that has developed ever since life itself started and protects us every day from harm. It also gave me a big take-away in terms of scientific story telling and the use of metaphors. That is because, while some reader may criticize the use of daring comparisons between the immune system’s behaviour and daily phenomenons, I found them most often very interesting, and they gave me a better picture of what was happening. I think for every person that has to explain something complex to people that are not familiar with their subject, this book is worth reading. It may in addition be worth considering extending one’s own scientific vocabulary with some colorful daily life related comparisons and images. Maybe this can lead to a more open scientific community and dialog for everyone.