Finally after a long delay, a Weekend reading review: Because Pastors also need a break from heavy theological reading!
Matt Richtel. An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives. New York, NY: William Morrow, March 12th 2019. 324 pp.
4 out of 5
Purchase: Amazon
How much do you know about our human immune system, the system in your body involved with defending the body from germs, virus and bacteria? This book written by a journalist attempts to educate the general reader. The author Matt Richtel is a Pulitzer Prize winning and New York Times best selling author. Weaving in science and also the personal life story of four different individuals add a human interests angle to carry the readers through what is a complicated and hard subject. While preparing to write this review I found out that currently it is the number one rated book in Immunology. I thought in the time I read it during the ongoing Corona virus this would be educational for me.
The book’s fifty five chapters is grouped under six parts. The first part introduces readers to the four individuals that the book centers upon and then part two gives us an introduction to the immune system and the relationship of the immune system to the rest of the body, what the author calls “the festival of life.” Part three through five looks at the specific immune issues of the four individuals and part six is an epilogue concerning these individuals’ journey. These men and women have health issues ranging from auto-immune problems, a terminal cancer and a man with HIV.
I learned a lot from this book. I admit this is not a subject I am not very knowledgeable at so I learned a lot though some things are probably going to be hard for me to remember. It was fascinating to learn about B-cells and T-cells. I thought the book’s discussion of medical research history was quite interesting. The book has many analogies for readers to try to understand the complex operations of immune system such as toll like receptors that identify foreign pathogens. It was fascinating to see how inter-dependent our various body systems are with each other. It was amazing to learn of how T-regulators cells are determined by bacteria in the gut. I thought it was also interesting to learn of how part of our immune system’s ability to fight with virus is also affected by insufficient sleep.
Overall I recommend the book. Sometimes though the book’s language and cussing and political views were unnecessary but still overall the book was informative.
The Domain for Truth 
Good info!
Thank you for this book review. I have read similar books in the past and it’s fascinating how the human body works.
Have a blessed weekend !
The human body is fascinating! How did your Friday evangelism go?
It started slow but later it picked up. I was so blessed to be able to have 3 quality conversations with young people one of whom had just came out of jail.
Thank you for your prayers .
Based on your review, Jim, it shows GOD’s incredible and amazing creation/engineering/work i.e. the human body. Gut bacteria is important (and probiotic milk drink helps). And we need to have sufficient sleep i.e. 8 hours for our immune system to work well. Thank you for sharing this. I kind of hoping that the secular book to be reviewed this time was about Bruce Wayne.
Wow you know about my comic book interests lol. That’s coming next week as a review. Are you a fan of Batman too?
The entire league and titans, Jim! And its counterpart in the house of M. After elementary, I started collecting again in 2002 as a reward after a grueling MIS compre exam. Reading comics and collecting Action F in my mid 20s; making a cabinet with all 60 of them from both companies. GOD disciplines me for that. Not doing it anymore since 2017. Because of this WordPress ministry, I rarely read comics in youtube.
Wonderful research.
Thanks! Given the topic of this book review is about health, I hope your health is doing ok Maw Maw?
Doing well, Sweetie.
Studying about immunology is hard but interesting. It always is a good reminder to thank the Lord for our health. Thanks for sharing your review SlimJim ☺️
Thanks for the good review! I give you credit for reading this book. I think my head would be aching by the third or fourth chapter!
I tried to persevere but at times it did get really interesting! A fun exercise of reading something different than my regular routine. How is your Saturday going thus far?
It was a busy morning and early-afternoon; took dog to vet, cut back lawn, grocery shopped, and then trimmed back bushes in 90F heat! Currently convalescing on patio under shade. How’s your day look?
Jim, your reading list finds a variety of topics outside of the Gospel-centered books you read. Science has never been my forte, but in these times it doesn’t hurt to be more knowledgeable about our body’s immune systems.