I just finished reading Immune by Philipp Dettmer.
I’m a Kurzgasagt fan so I had some idea what I was in for — the website’s videos on the immune system have always been fascinating and a little baffling.
That’s a good way to describe the book, too. Fascinating, but also a bit baffling. Much like trying to truly understand all aspects of a historical war, there are too many characters, doing too many things, most of them simultaneously, and some of them for reasons we don’t understand.
Dettmer does an excellent job of not only trying to describe the frantic actions of our cells but also of warning us when something inscrutable or not yet understood is coming up, glossing over the things that would require two more books to describe, and generally making the immune system something less of a mystery.
That said, I totally expect I’ll need to read it again to get a better understanding of it. Much like organic chemistry or transformational grammar, this isn’t a “class” one expects to pass on the first try, no matter how excellent the instructor.