Customer Reviews

The Immune System

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I borrowed this book from a prof who was reviewing it for the next time he taught immunology. I used it to gear myself up for two presentations and papers in biochem and cell/molecular biology. Having no experience in immunology but a solid backgroudn in biochem and biology, I found it incredibly easy to read, yet has all the details and mechanisms necessary for one to read and understand research papers in immunology. The picture and graphics are fantastic. It is concise without skipping so much detail as to lose the reader. I wish all my textbooks were written this well. It ties in material from biochemisty and cell biology as well as genetics. It would be a wonderful text for an upper level undergraduate immunology course.

I am a medical student, and I have red and seen a lot of books. Guys, I couldn't believe how easy and fluent was the reading of this book. I must admit that i am not one of those guys that can sit down and finish the big Robbins in a few days, but with this book I have managed to do it !!! For me it was a first. Because P.Parham constantly reminds you of the stuff you read in the earlier chapters, and the exceptionally simple but good illustrations, you don't forget anything! I truly never seen such a thing. My enthusiasm may seem too exaggerated but I can't help it. 450 pages went like 50, and the book spares no details! Another great point is the questions and answers at the end of the chapters and at the end of the book, respectively. Med. Students, this book is for you, and 5 stars are not nearly enough.

This is the best immunology book out there for the aspiring medical student. Well written, easy read, concise. During the first years of medical school you need sources that deliver information in a quick, organized manner and this book delivers! Don't think about any other immunology textbook.

Pros:
1. Great for the hard core, molecular pathways of immunology.
2. Parham has a keen sense of proper diagram use. He seems to know when written text just won't do the job.
3. Has lots of clinical correlations, which is nice for med students.
4. Amazing photographs, appealing font and layout (secondary, but makes it pleasant to read).

Cons:
1. A minimal amount of information varies from other texts.
2. It's expensive!
3. For a med student, it goes a little deeper than required.

I held out buying the book for a while, due to what I felt was an exorbitant price. Once I finally bought it, I knew it was worth every penny. A book I'll refer to when studying for boards, after medical school and into my career.

I'm a second year medical student and I used this book for my first year immunology course. My school has a strong immunology course and the syllabus is almost able to stand on its own without a textbook. The important thing is - our syllabus uses the diagrams from Parham's book! Now that I am studying for boards, I am so happy that I can I look at these diagrams to make sense of complicated immune reactions that I barely remember.

I was really happy I bought this book in addition to the syllabus b/c I just really don't have the mind for immunology. It's just not a subject that sticks with me, so I appreciated Parham's clear descriptions. If you like to really understand how immunobiology works, not just memorize things willy-nilly, I highly recommend this book. If you have a strong immuno course, you won't need to read the entire book, but it still comes in handy for the confusing stuff (eg: VDJ recombination, isotype switching, etc).

I am a second year medical student, and bought this as an accompaniment to the class notes. I found it too dense to be useful, and overpriced for the amount of book you receive (especially as a softcover). As long as your class notes are good, I would not recommend this book. As an aside, I have read Robbins Basic Pathology cover-to-cover, so I'm not just saying I don't like to read in addition to notes...I just really hated this book.

Explains concepts very well, chapters are clearly organized and easy to read. All figures are colored and easy to follow. Found it very helpful to have this book while taking Immunology course for medical school.

Excellent text that includes the most current information on a subject that is constantly evolving. More easy to read than most immunology texts. Good reference book.

Here is the deal, this is not a quick read. I heard so many good things about this book that I was convinced it would be a piece of cake to read. Lets all get real. Immunology is not a simple subject for any book, and this one doesn't make things any different. The author doesn't have the magical touch to explain things in a clear way. It reads just like a molecular biology textbook would. However, it does have its strong points. The book is only about 450pg long, which is slim for a text. All of the main ideas can be understood by looking at the pictures and reading the captions to the picture. The author also has summary paragraphs, most of the time there are two per chapter with a full chapter summary at the end. Every chapter ends with good questions that make you think. Overall, however, the real power of this book is the pictures with captions. The entire book can be understood from these alone. For this reason I recommend having the book, but it isn't going to be the key to success for everyone.

Shalom everyone, I am a 4th year medicine student in Italy.
I have bought this book since I was about to start a rheumatology and clinical immunology course.
I found that "The Immune System by Peter Parham" is a very clear written book, filled with colorful diagrams and very simple to understand pictures.
Every paragraph starts with a subtitle, a preview and very slowly, it proceeds from the most simple and general descriptions to the deepest. Important are the short phrases it's made of, there almost no long complex phrases. Brick after brick.
The book is very easy to understand, yet very comprehensive. I read a third of the book in less than a week, and I found I remembered most of it, without even repeating it too much.
At the end of every chapter there are open questions with full answers at the end of the book.
One of the important qualities this book have is that it made me curious about immunology! I have already a B.A. degree from the Hebrew university and I have already studied immunology, but now, for the first time I find it interesting and complex, yet Peter Parham explains it in a very clear way.
I wish I had more books written by this author... I know I should write something negative about the book, for the balance or integrity, but tell you the truth, I find none. It's not cheap, but worth every euro.
Yehuda Malul, Italy.