Customer Reviews

Faith, Madness, and Spontaneous Human Combustion: What Immunology Can Teach Us About Self-Perception

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I measure a book by my own reaction to it. When I have finished the last page, if the thoughts within the work compel me to look at the world around me--or within me--in a new and different way, it is a good book. Rare are authors who are capable of opening new doors upon this experience we call life. Gerry Callahan is one such author.

Using the immune system as a basis for analogy, he describes the fascinating tasks the human body's immune system must perform in distinguishing "self" from "not self" in order to keep our bodies from being consumed by the microbial world. But this is not a dry text about immunology. It is a personal and philosophical story about the beauty and elegance of life. It is a story about lymphocytes and mitochondria, but it is far more a story about Gerry L. Callahan, his perceptions, his joy, his pain, his truths, and his lies. Equally, it is about all members of the human species.

"It isn't nature that abhors a vacuum, it's humans. We humans don't believe in the limits of human knowledge, even temporary limits. We don't accept the spaces between what we know and what is. So we lie. We lie to fill in those spaces and smooth the fabric of reality. Otherwise this universe, this life, would be unmanageable, overpowering, and terrifying. We lie to make it manageable-all of us."

This book is about Gerry L Callahan filling in the spaces to smooth the fabric of reality. For me, it opened another door.

I call "Faith, Madness..." scientific poetry. It is a work of humanity, written in earnest, baring its flaws and uncertainty to reveal a possible truth about WHY and maybe more importantly HOW we are what we are. Callahan weaves snippets of insightful, passionate prose with personal ancedote to illustrate his theory that our immune systems help to define our individuality. I have been touched by this book. Not only does it speak to my thirst for scientific understanding but it lightly stroked my sense of spirituality. Science books like this don't come around very often.

Callahan is that genre of author I like to describe as "scientifically based mystic." Scientist in that, true to his craft, he primarily uses the scientific method to probe the answers to life in the biological sense. Mystic in that he recognizes that science can provide many wonderful answers and statistics, but seldom the "meta" answers man has yearned for since we can remember.

"Who am I?" and "What is my place in the universe?" are questions seldom answered satisfactorily by science, and more comfortably by religion. Using his considerable experience and knowledge in the science of immunology, Callahan tackles these questions in a much different way then most scientists would, yet without an appeal to religiosity. Always with a healthy respect for the unknown, unseen and unknowable, Callahan deftly explores the hidden relationships between ourselvs, our parents and every other living thing comprising life.

He'll make you think in ways you possibly haven't thought before, and even tug at your heartstrings while recounting intensly personal stories experienced by us all. Highly recommended.

The book was like doing mental calisthenics. Every chapter was fresh, with a new view on life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys delightful writing that stimulates their mind. Not your general book. Very unique. Written for veteran readers.

What Stephen Jay Gould does for evolutionary biology, Gerald N. Callahan does for immunology. This book is a "must read" for the scientific mind that is looking for a new way to view life. Do we live on an "immunologicentric" planet? Read the book then decide.

This book, written in a beautiful, almost poetic prose, is engrossing, informative, and covered commonalities of the immune system, human behavior, genetics, family relations, faith, reason and science. I particularly liked the parallels between paranoia and immune system. In paranoia, the mind views almost everything as a threat, and may even inflict damage on innocent parties. In the latter the body attacks itself and other non-threats, causing injury to itself. Also, the details on how the immune system "remembers" and how the various organs police the system was fascinating. Not all of the personal family story snippets tied strongly to the central theme, but all were excellent writing and emotionally powerful. Anyone wanting to expand their horizons and view the world from a unique viewpoint could do well to read Callahan's fine book.

I didn't know a darn thing about the immune system, and it wasn't high on my list of must-research material, but this book is the best one I've read this year. What an amazing book! Absolutely fascinating -- and not just for science minded folks.

This book oddly jumped between an interesting view of the human body and, in particular, the immune system, to creepy and morbid personal memories of the author. Ick.