36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent resource for students and Labs!, July 15, 2000
This book was on our shelves in my HIV lab as a student in neuroscience. I spotted it and pulled it out, and as I worked for two and a half years in this lab while finishing my Masters dissertation I would come up with questions or things that had not been taught in my classes. This book explained all of it quite nicely, and I am sure the updated version is even better. There are enough pictures and graphs in this book to be helpful, but a lot of the information cannot be provided in pictorial format. Too many times in this field authors write for their peers, and not for students or for understanding. This is not the case with this book. It is immensely accessible, and provides useful descriptions of both normal cellular activities and what happens when disease hits, or autoimmunity causes problems with the body's own defenses. It was extremely helpful in allowing me to answer the questions of my dissertation committee, and I recommend it to others who are working in various labs or have textbooks that are poorly written. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Abbas got me past my qualifying exams in immuno grad sch..., September 16, 2001
Target audience: Any undergrad or grad student in life sciences. Little background needed beyond the basics of genetics, what is a cell etc. A bit too much for the typical MD course; try Abbas's Basic Immuno. It is a reference for basic immuno concepts, not a reference for every last detail in modern immunology (for that try Paul's Immuno).
What Abbas does: After reading this book (or at least skimming the pictures) you will be able to read the abstracts for immuno journals; you'll be able to say "I vaguely understand why the heck this journal article is important/furthers knowledge of immunology".
Pros: The most up-to-date (more recent than Janeway). A proven favorite of grad students. The pictures are easy-to-follow and demostrate all the main points. In fact, it may be better not to read much of the detail filled text, if you just want general knowledge. Little text boxes that highlight a technique, a historical development (e.g. how they cloned T Cell receptor). Nice section in the back on common lab techniques. Nice chapters on clinical correlates (human disease).
Cons: It is not comprehensive (like Paul's Immunology) nor is it meant to be comprehensive. The signal transduction is hopelessly out of date (all textbooks will fall behind rapid developments in sig transduction).
Geeky immuno nit-picking: Some controversial topics are presented as gospel (for example, anergy and the 2-signal hypothesis, which has not been convincingly demonstrated in vivo "natural system"; if you don't know what i'm talking about, don't worry about it).
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book but not the great one, October 25, 1998
By A Customer
I use this book as a supplement in my cell biology course. The material covered in here is vast but the authors do not explain all of them clearly enough. I also do not like the figures drawn throughout the book. They are hard to follow and somewhat confusing for me. However, this book is a good reference for a quick review. If you have time and need to study more about immunology, I would suggest you to read the book written by Janeway.
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