Immune

Immune was a big job for me to read, for two reasons.

Firstly, I take notes on all popsci nonfiction I read, noting down things I didn't know before, and I knew nothing about immunology, so I took many notes. This is a good thing, because I learned a lot from the book!

The second reason is a bad one, unfortunately: I hated the authorial tone in this. The vibe is that of a teacher who tries very hard to be down with the kids and makes liberal use of slang that's just a touch out of date. I really did not jive with this, it took away from the topic and made me mistrust the authority of the writer on the subject. It was certainly done to be more accessible, but it comes across as cheesy and condescending.

The illustrations were of a very high quality, and they added so much to the narrative, always presented at exactly the right time, spread evenly throughout. This brings the rating up to three stars.

Surprisingly interesting & accessible book. Boy oh boy the immune system is amazing.

La capacidad del autor de hacerte comprender conceptos complejos es increible.
Si eres una persona curiosa, lee este libro. Me lo agradeces luego.

I feel like I'm a college-educated immunologist ready to start diagnosing people right away (I'm joking). But Dettmer does an amazing job of simplifying incredibly complex biological processes—it's nonfiction but it reads as easily as any fiction book would.