From the get-go, this book is a must-read for anybody who is interested in the field of biology, or anybody who wants to get to know how the system that keeps them alive works.

This work is divided into several sections, each explaining a specific part or aspect of the immune system. Dettmer first introduces the immune system and how it evolved from around 541 million years ago, when multicellular animal life suddenly exploded, causing bacteria and other microorganisms to become an existential threat, as they could use these ecosystems of organisms as free energy at the detriment of the former. As a result, some organisms such as sponges evolved what would be known as “humoral immunity”, or proteins that would float around and kill microorganisms that were not supposed to be in an animal’s body. This system ended up being so successful that evolution did not phase it out, and rather made it a crucial aspect of an organism’s immune defense.

The book then goes on to explain more aspects of the immune systems, such as different parts of it including the different cells that make it up, including macrophages and neutrophils, which are integral to the functioning of the immune system. After going over these two crucial parts of the immune system, Dettmer then goes on to talk about the process of inflammation and its causes in relation to the immune system.

Although it would be impossible for me to include every single one of this book’s many complex topics in this review, I think that this book was great, and made topics that would otherwise be complicated and tedious to read seem very interesting. The author of this book also has a very well-known science Youtube channel, Kurzgesagt, which I highly recommend checking out.

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.