| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
xi, 425 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Note |
Includes index. |
| Contents |
The ties that bind -- Jason -- Bob -- Linda and Merredith -- The bird, dog, starfish, and magic bullet -- The festival -- Festival crashers -- The mystery organ -- The B-word -- T-cells and B-cells -- Vaccines -- The infinity machine -- Transplant -- The immune system's fingerprint -- Inflammation -- Fever -- Flash Gordon -- The harmonious way -- Three wise men and the monoclonal antibody -- A second immune system -- Sex machine -- GRID -- The phone call -- CD-4 and CD-8 -- Magic -- The prime -- Linda -- The wolf -- Invisible evidence -- Best of both worlds (sort of) -- Merredith -- Should you pick your nose? -- Microbiome -- Stress -- Sleep -- A word about cancer -- Laughter and tears -- The Lazarus mouse -- Wound healing -- Programmed death -- The breakthrough -- Jason races time -- Shepherd of death -- Trials, personal and clinical -- The other shoe -- Bob -- Linda -- Jan and Ron -- Jason down the white tunnel -- Jason rises -- Apollo 11 -- Home -- Jason's way -- The meanings of life -- The meaning of Jason. |
| Summary |
"A groundbreaking narrative exploration of the human immune system--the key to human health and longevity--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist and acclaimed author of A Deadly Wandering"-- Provided by publisher. |
|
The immune system is a guardian vigilantly fighting illness, healing wounds, maintaining order and balance, and keeping us alive. Richtel interweaves the stories of four people: a terminal cancer patient who rises from the grave; a medical marvel who defies HIV; two women with autoimmunity who discover their own bodies have turned against them. As he leads us from the Black Plague to twentieth-century breakthroughs in vaccination and antibiotics, to the cutting-edge laboratories that are revolutionizing immunology, his four patients each illuminates an essential facet of our "elegant defense." -- adapted from jacket |
| Subject |
Immune system -- Popular works.
|
|
Immunology -- Popular works.
|
|
Immunologic diseases -- Patients.
|
|
SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Biology.
|
|
SCIENCE / History.
|
|
MEDICAL / Immunology.
|
|
Immune system. (OCoLC)fst00967877
|
|
Immunology. (OCoLC)fst00968006
|
| Genre/Form |
Popular works. (OCoLC)fst01423846
|
| ISBN |
9780062698537 (hardcover) |
|
0062698532 (hardcover) |
|
9780062698490 (paperback) |
|
0062698494 (paperback) |
|
