Customer Reviews

Germ Warfare: Breakthroughs in Immunology

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I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this book. At a time when germ warfare on a global scale threatens to terrify us all, it was comforting and inspiring to read about germ warfare of an entirely different kind. This fascinating book tells of the biological battle our bodies fight day to day against microscopic invaders. Not so much a novel as a composite of short, surprising, remarkable, funny and awe-inspiring tales this book gives accounts of scientific discoveries and personalities in an engaging style and enigmatic manner unparalleled in any published work of this kind. Baxter is careful to keep everything in layman's terms yet he manages to convey an understanding of the science and its significance with great skill and passion. Whether you're an immunologist or you've never studied science in your life, as long as you're interested in your health and your body's defense system I guarantee you will not be disappointed in this innovative and captivating book.

This is an amazing book. It tells the stories of how we learned how the body fights infections like Ebola. The strange thing is that often the most important scientific discoveries were inspired by the most trivial of motivations. Wrapped up in the sometimes highly improbably tales of the scientists' lives is the science presented in a clear and interesting way. You get some understanding, not only of what they did, but why and how they did it, and you come to realise that they are really just someone like you. Strongly recommended.

On one level I appreciated this book as a concise guided tour through the history of immunology, at another level I was filled with pride by the contributions Australian scientists have made to our understanding of immunology (the author is Australian, and has an insiders knowledge of some of the groundbreaking research conducted in this country). However the book does not dwell too much on Australian scientists, instead giving a background on the people and research behind many of the discoveries that are key to our current understanding of immunology. One minor complaint about the book is that some of the descriptions of the experiments, while in general good and detailed, were on occasion unclear and may take some effort to understand by readers not familiar with the terminology. Overall, however, I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the history of immunology.