A Commotion in the Blood: Life, Death, and the Immune System (Sloan Technology Series) [Hardcover]

Stephen S. Hall (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0805037969 | ISBN-13: 978-0805037968 | Publication Date: June 1997 | Edition: 1

Stephen S. Hall traces the story of how doctors have learned to use the immune system and its "commotions, " as one physician put it, to develop a wide array of cutting-edge therapies. "(Hall) succeeds marvelously in making science accessible to the general reader."--The New York Times Book Review. photo insert.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"To anyone who writes about science or medicine ... the word breakthrough has a kind of transcendent power." It is to Stephen Hall's credit that he avoids the B-word in A Commotion in the Blood. Hall recounts the "manic-depressive history" of immune therapies for cancer without, said Roy Porter, "the futile pretense that the great cancer 'magic bullet' will be there as the new millennium dawns." Fred Rosen, in Nature magazine, calls A Commotion in the Blood "a wonderful book for lay readers who want to know more about current biomedical science ... replete with scientific details recounted in very comprehensible prose."

From Library Journal

In his latest book, science journalist Hall (Mapping the Next Millennium, LJ 12/91) chronicles the history of immunotherapy as a treatment for cancer. He begins with a discussion of William Coley's early attempts to treat cancer by deliberately injecting patients with a bacterial culture. He then examines numerous critical advances in the science of immunotherapy such as the discovery of cytokines and the impact of molecular genetics. Hall concludes with a lengthy review of some of the latest attempts at immunotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies, adoptive immunotherapy, and interleukin-12. The author does an admirable job of explaining the extremely complicated subject of immunology in understandable terminology. While much is still to be learned in this area, this book gives the reader a true appreciation of the complexity of human immunity?the "commotion in the blood" is not chaotic but rather a beautifully orchestrated intricate system. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1 edition (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805037969
• ISBN-13: 978-0805037968
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,474,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any educated and curiuos person, September 6, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Commotion in the Blood: Life, Death, and the Immune System (Sloan Technology) (Paperback)

I read this book a while ago but now I recalled that I should write my impressions as this is one of the best books about general science I ever read.

I am a scientist (Ph.D.), I work in biomedical research and I know from first hand how biomedicine research is done in Academia and in Industry. This book is an outstanding description for the general public (anyone will understand it, even if you don't know anything about science) of a part of Cancer Research (from the beginning of the century to present); the application of Immunology to treat cancer ending in recent attemps of using gene therapy.

The book is extremely well researched and very well written and therefore I believe that anyone interested in understanding why it is important to do "basic" research should read it.

Importantly the book also explains the happenings "behind the scenes"; the book talks about the human beings that do research. Researchers are human beings, with strong egotistic attitudes, and "scientific credit" is not always given to the ones that deserve it, the "researchers that do the actual work" the postdoctoral fellows. Examples are given in the book.

Many "notable" and "famous" scientist have constructed their career with good research but also with despotic attitudes, envy, and fratricide fights with other scientists. Scientific research is extremely competitive and therefore effective and this situation gives little margin for "good human values". Most times the driving force in biomedical science is not to cure people but to gain credit, power and reputation. Of course success benefits all of us.

I strongly recommend this book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent but bothersome, January 11, 2000

By 

john m. barry (new orleans) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Commotion in the Blood: Life, Death, and the Immune System (Sloan Technology Series) (Hardcover)

This is well-written and generally solid, but has a couple of flaws. The biggest is that the author seems to have been taken in by some researchersd who most likely were sources. The result: the book gives far too much credence to the work of an early 20th century doctor named Coley, whose family has funded research since and has campaigned for credit. Coley's work, while creative and provocative-- for which he deserves credit-- was not good science, and the book made it sound as if it was true. This troubled me throughout my reading. The writer also seems to take some pretty hard (and unfair) shots at a prominent current researcher, Steve Rosenberg. Again, the author was most likely listening too closely to a couple of sources. Rosenberg is far more likely to win a Nobel Prize than to fade into nothingness, as the author implies. He was the first person to stimulate the immune system to cure certain cancers. Nonetheless, this is a first-rate book, and if I didn't know anything about the subject (which I do) I would have enjoyed it even more than I did even including the flaws.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immunotherapy for laypeople, January 11, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Commotion In the Blood: Life, Death and The Immune System (Sloan Technology Series) (Hardcover)

It's a shame this great book is out of print.

It's not easy going for the layperson although it is certainly more accessible than a great deal of medical information. But it IS fascinating.

Early strategies of dealing with cancer by manipulating the immune system which were discovered and championed by Dr. Coley (with surprising success since even he wasn't sure exactly how they worked) were abandoned and forgotten when the new "radiation" model found more powerful supporters in the medical community, like Dr. Coley's boss, Dr. Ewing.

Years later we see a terrific toll in human suffering exacted by radiation and chemotherapy. Current stem cell research and other immunological researches all "stem" from Coley's early experiments. Hall writes about the scientists, operating alone or in teams, who have made huge strides in the world of immune system research and therapy protocols, many of which the average person has never heard about.

I learned an enormous amount about how the body works and about how the immune system develops. Yes, this information is very detailed and not always easy to grasp, but Hall does a terrific job in trying to make it understandable to the non-medical reader. So many times we laypeople are flummoxed by jargon.

Hall details what scientists have been doing in the world of immune research. Some familiar names pop up like Dr. Gallo and others prominent in AIDS research. And Hall does a great job in writing about the personalities, the conflicts and the politics of the medical world--it's not all science, which is daunting enough to us!

I can't speak highly enough of this book. I really know a lot more about how the body works after reading it and I'm encouraged for the future, if only the public will get behind supporting these brilliant and innovative thinkers.

I had cancer which is one of the things that interested me in this book. As challenging as the book is, I could NOT put it down. It makes for interesting speculation about how our world would have developed if cancer protocols had gone in a different direction.