How the Immune System Works / Edition 5

by Lauren M. Sompayrac

Overview

Blackwell now offers the 2nd edition of How the Immune System Works. Written in the same offbeat "lecture-style" you're familiar with, this new edition provides a perfect introduction to the essential principles of the immune system, covered in 9 humorous, but highly informative, "lectures." Perfect as an exam-prep review or an enjoyable overview of a difficult subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2901118997771
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	11/02/2015
Series:	How it Works Series
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Lauren Sompayrac, PhD, was a Research Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado, USA. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pathology at the Harvard Medical School. Now retired, Dr. Sompayrac is the author of How the Immune System Works, How Pathogenic Viruses Work, How Cancer Works, and How Pathogenic Viruses Think.

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Table of Contents

	How to Use This Book	ix
Part I.	The Healthy Immune System
Lecture 1.	An Overview	3
Lecture 2.	The Innate Immune System	15
Lecture 3.	B Cells and Antibodies	27
Lecture 4.	The Magic of Antigen Presentation	43
Lecture 5.	T Cells and Cytokines	55
Lecture 6.	Lymphoid Organs and Lymphocyte Trafficking	71
Lecture 7.	Tolerance Induction and MHC Restriction	83
Part II.	The Immune System in Disease
Lecture 8.	Immunopathology: The Immune System Gone Wrong	95
Lecture 9.	Cancer and the Immune System	109
	Glossary	117
	Index	121

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“How the Immune System Works remains uniquely popular for its personable and practical overview of the nuts and bolts of the immune system. This third edition provides a perfect introduction to the essential principles of the immune system, covered in humorous but highly informative 'lectures' accompanied by clear and accessible illustrations. It is perfect for exam preparation or as an enjoyable overview of a difficult subject. Both students and instructors will welcome the clarity and authority that Lauren Sompayrac brings to this timely revision. The conversational writing style makes it seem as though the author is talking to the reader directly. There is no other book currently available quite like this one. Those of our students who have discovered the book have recommended it to others. When completing course evaluations, a substantial number have commented on how helpful it was.” (Doody's Book Reviews, October 2008)

Preface

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

I wrote How the Immune System Works because I couldn't find a book that would give my students an overall view of the immune system. Sure, there are as many good, thick textbooks as a person might have money to buy, but these are crammed with every possible detail. There are also lots of 'review books' that are great if you want a summary of what you've already learned -- but they won't teach you immunology. What was missing was a short book that tells, in simple language, how the immune system fits together -- a book that presents the big picture of the immune system without the jargon and the details.

How the Immune System Works is written in the form of 'lectures,' because I want to talk to you directly, just as if we were together in the classroom. This book is short, so you should be able to finish it in a few days. In fact, I strongly suggest that you sit down with this little book and read it from start to finish. The whole idea is to get an overall view of the subject, and if you read one lecture a week, that won't happen. Don't 'study' the book the first time through -- just read it and enjoy. Later you can go back and re-read the appropriate lectures as your immunology course progresses -- to keep you from losing sight of the big picture as the details get filled in.

Although the first lecture is a light-hearted overview meant to give you a running start at the subject, you'll soon discover that this is not 'baby immunology.' How the Immune System Works is a concept-driven analysis of how the immune system players work together to protect us from disease -- and why they do it this way.

In some settings, How the Immune System Works will serve as the main text for the immunology section of a larger course. In a semester-long undergraduate or graduate immunology course, your professor may use this book either as a companion to a detailed text or as the central text, supplemented by additional readings.

No matter how your professor may choose to use this book, however, you should keep one important point in mind: I didn't write How the Immune System Works for your professor. This book's for you!

Editorial Reviews

3 Stars from Doody

This book is a description of the overall basic rules by which the immune system protects us from disease. It attempts to put rather complicated concepts into a simple—but not simplistic—""big picture"" and is intended to be used either as a freestanding introduction to immunology or as a companion to other texts. The purpose is to provide students with an overall view of the immune system. The author felt that a short book that tells how the various parts of the immune system fit together in a style free of jargon and details was needed. Many students who have taken immunology would agree that their texts generally do not fit this description and that most books do not take such a determined integrated approach. For some students this is an excellent introduction to a very complicated topic. The author suggests that this book could be useful for both undergraduate and graduate students who are being introduced to immunology. Another audience could be medical and dental students who are studying immunology for the first time and need an uncomplicated approach by which they can assimilate a lot of data very quickly. This latter group of students is usually being deluged with a lot of information by different instructors, and a significant number of these neophytes are confused. The author has presented the ""big picture"" for students who may need some extra help in focusing on basic concepts. He is a retired professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. This book suggests that he has had considerable experience in teaching. This short book is written as if the author is talking personally to each student. About 80 percent of it is focused on basic immunologicalconcepts. The remaining 20 percent deals with immunopathology. This section provides only a very bare outline of the role of the immune system in disease. There is a glossary of important terms presented in a nontechnical manner. The primary shortcoming is the lack of detail that would make it a suitable text for a basic course in immunology. However, this lack of detail is also its major strength, since it provides a context in which students can add more of the specific details of the immune system after they have become comfortable with the elementary information. There is a lack of textbooks that provide an easily understood overview of the very complicated field of immunology. For those students who are lost in confusing theories and arcane terminology, this book may provide comforting assistance. Students are often unable to articulate their problems with immunological concepts. Although this text does not provide sufficient data for a student to become familiar with many important—and still basic—details, it does provide a starting point for understanding as well as for asking meaningful questions.

Marion C. Cohen

Reviewer: Marion C. Cohen, PhD (SUNY Downstate Medical Center)
Description: This book is a description of the overall basic rules by which the immune system protects us from disease. It attempts to put rather complicated concepts into a simple — but not simplistic — "big picture" and is intended to be used either as a freestanding introduction to immunology or as a companion to other texts.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide students with an overall view of the immune system. The author felt that a short book that tells how the various parts of the immune system fit together in a style free of jargon and details was needed. Many students who have taken immunology would agree that their texts generally do not fit this description and that most books do not take such a determined integrated approach. For some students this is an excellent introduction to a very complicated topic.
Audience: The author suggests that this book could be useful for both undergraduate and graduate students who are being introduced to immunology. Another audience could be medical and dental students who are studying immunology for the first time and need an uncomplicated approach by which they can assimilate a lot of data very quickly. This latter group of students is usually being deluged with a lot of information by different instructors, and a significant number of these neophytes are confused. The author has presented the "big picture" for students who may need some extra help in focusing on basic concepts. He is a retired professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. This book suggests that he has had considerable experience in teaching.
Features: This short book is written as if the author is talking personally to each student. About 80 percent of it is focused on basic immunological concepts. The remaining 20 percent deals with immunopathology. This section provides only a very bare outline of the role of the immune system in disease. There is a glossary of important terms presented in a nontechnical manner. The primary shortcoming is the lack of detail that would make it a suitable text for a basic course in immunology. However, this lack of detail is also its major strength, since it provides a context in which students can add more of the specific details of the immune system after they have become comfortable with the elementary information.
Assessment: There is a lack of textbooks that provide an easily understood overview of the very complicated field of immunology. For those students who are lost in confusing theories and arcane terminology, this book may provide comforting assistance. Students are often unable to articulate their problems with immunological concepts. Although this text does not provide sufficient data for a student to become familiar with many important — and still basic — details, it does provide a starting point for understanding as well as for asking meaningful questions.

Doody's Review Service