Customer Reviews

Immunology (Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews Series)

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

 

 

Though I have had a module on Immunology as a part of Biochemistry in medical school, my essential knowledge of Immunology had all but flown out the window when I picked up this book. It was an excellent re-introduction to the subject.

The text was simple and clear. I whizzed through the entire book in a week and was able to retain a vast number of important concepts because of the book's amusing and colourful diagrams. The accompanying explanations were lucid and easy to understand. The book makes very few assumptions about the reader's prior experience with Immunology. Jargon, when used, is amply explained and illustrated. Though its labeled a review, I used it as a textbook. It's a nice starting point for someone with little or no exposure to Immunology.

Thus, I would highly recommend Lippincott's Illustrated Review in Immunology
a) as an introductory/basic text.
b) to anyone looking for a fun but good introduction to Immunology
c) to clinicians who want an essential grasp of the subject but have very little time or energy.
d) as a starting point for generating interesting ideas in interdisciplinary research involving Immunology for researchers whose primary field of research is not Immunology.

EDIT: Just to be clear, this book is NOT for Immunology PhDs, advanced graduate students in Immunology who are preparing for their qualifiers, or even medical students who are looking for an in-depth approach to specific topics in Immunology. It is, for all purposes, an introductory text and fills in its shoes admirably well. For people who are not primarily immunologists but come in contact with talks and seminars in immunology at their institutions, this book will make you conversant with immunology jargon and help you come away with a clear synoptic view of the talk/seminar rather than a confused mess of "What were they talking about?!".

I am a trained / board-certified pediatrican, and like most doctors have found that residency and practice have distanced me from the basics. I've enjoyed reviewing these "1st year" texts to help provide a more solid foundation for my clinical practice. Great review, very nice illustrations, succinct.

Well written and with concise diagrams. Does a nice job of covering the pertinent material without going into so much detail you lose the forest for the trees. I'd have given it 5 stars if there were a comprehensive test at the end, but even as-is I'd buy it again.

This book is not very big, which helps it remain very un-intimidating. If you need a book to cover the major broad basics of immunology, this is the book for you. However, just know that these basics are spread out over an entire book. I think a rapid review version might be better for USMLE purposes. This book did not contain many details, only very broad concepts. For my medical school class I read most of the book at the beginning, and it helped me start in the right direction. However, it wasn't any helpful after that. Overall, I would not recommend this text to a friend. Sorry!

This book is a great tool for a first year medical student learning Immunology. The figures provide a clear explanation for all the different aspects of innate and adaptive immunity. However, the book is not very detailed as I would have liked but def gives you all the main points necessary for most classes and board exams. Def recommend esp for the low price.

This is a good book for a first edition. I very much like the Illustrated Reviews series from Lippincott- I have used the Biochemistry book extensively and loved it, and I have all the others in this series. These are not exhaustive resources, but pretty up to date. This Immunology review will only get better with each edition, but you won't go wrong with this one.

I praise the authors for simplifying what can be a very complicated subject - especially when it's haphazardly thrown at you amidst a bunch of other information during your first year of medical school. I'm sure writing a volume like this was no easy feat. At some points, however, it is overly simplistic for the sake of not confusing the reader, which is the reason I'm giving it four stars. Some of the figures are worthless and just take up space. Some of the text is extraneous too - it can be very wordy when a more condensed explanation would suffice. If you're a medical student, I recommend reading this as well as LIR Biochemistry at a casual pace the summer before your second year. Read LIR Microbiology throughout your second year. This will really ease your transition into the early pathology material and will help you master microbiology.

This book was a huge help in my immunology class. The images were really helpful and the book explains things clearly and with lots of funny metaphors. I like that it's not a huge textbook, but really just gives you what you need to know for an intro immunology class. I'm a physician assistant student and it was just the right amount of detail.