Customer Reviews

Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Updated Edition (Book + Student Consult + Evolve

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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 The signal transduction is hopelessly out of date (all textbooks will fall behind rapid developments in sig transduction).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).

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.

For the advanced reader, I like Janeway's text better because of the depth of information presented, but for an introductory class, Abbas is more accessable and understandable in the introductory chapters. I recommend using them in tandem, I do! The figures are good, but interestingly enough, the illustrations in all the major texts on immunology are largely the same! If you need a CD with illustrations (you are an instructor or want to use them for a presentation etc) I recommend the CD accompanying Peter Parham's text book.

This immunology textbook has been what many bioloy students are waiting for. Among other well-known texts, this book is the thinest. However, the materails contained are so comprehensive that it can be used as a regular textbook. There are not many illustrations in this book as you usually see in a typical immunology book but these group of authors have done a nice job describing many difficult topics ( such as immunoglobulin gene rearrangement, B and T cell maturation, complement, Hypersensitivity etc.) easier and clearer by using simple language. Moreover,this new edition has been updated with very recent knowledge of immunology. If you anyhow don't like Kuby or Janeways' books, this book can be another excellent one.

My only immunology background was in medical school in the early 80s. I bought this book to try to get a basic grasp on what immunology is about now, 20 years later. This book is excellent for that. As other reviewers have commented, the material is well organized and illustrated. The illustrations are numerous enough and detailed enough to almost form an outline in their own right.
While there is considerable repetition, I consider that this is one of the best features of the book for a newcomer such as I. The repetition is clearly very intentional, not the result of disorganization or sloppy editing. Rather it is enough to let the reader grasp both the forest and the trees. It also lets you, to some extent, read from any section of the book without being totally lost if you don't remember the previous material.

The book includes updates of current topics in immunology. The on line access (new feature for this edition) give you the opportunity to check the book. It is good for copying images for power point presentations.

I was very glad that my undergraduate course in Immunology chose this textbook, because it has all you need to know and more to understand Immunology. A lot of my classmates and I found the text to be hard to read due to the fact that the material is very detailed and condensed, but the book is very well-laid out and describes the immune system well despite the inherent complexities involved. You might have to work hard to tie things together, but that's just the nature of the material since it's so intertwined.

All in all, my favorite textbook of my undergrad molecular biology curriculum so far.

The title of the book says it all: this book treats the expertise of immunology at the cellular and molecular level. It approaches the subject through a collection of explanations of experimental observations. Neither am I a physician nor a medical student, I find this book very comprehensible and helpful in explaining the principles of molecular biology/biochemistry [along with my expertise in chemistry] pertinent to the HIV virus. The book is abound with illustrations and pictorials though the authors at times drag on repeating concepts. The section on effector mechanisms of the immune responses is done in excellent gory details. Tons of illustrations, graphics making understanding of biochemical and immunological mechanisms a less strenuous task. For example, the HIV virus, the book will cover the abnormal events that occur at the first contact of the HIV virus. Then it talks about the virus mechanisms and the effect on the immune response. This 5th edition has been revised and now includes new info and materials about the lymphoid organs and innate immunity mechanism. I recommend it to medical students, pre-meds, and all health care professionals. 4.0 stars.

Few books are illustrated this well, and while the book suffers from the absence of a glossary, it is incredibly well written, with sufficient detail that you are sure you are getting the full story.

The author is not targeting me (a dilettante if ever there was one) but I find I can make my way through 99% of the book without questions or issues, and what I need help with I can find on the internet or by asking doctor friends.

If you are truly interested in how the immune system works, in some detail, this is a wonderful book.