You wake up and feel a tickle in your throat. Your head hurts. You're mildly
annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself.
Meanwhile, an utterly epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions
are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you drink your cup of
tea and head out the door.
So what, exactly, IS your immune system?
Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and
most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In
Immune, Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on
YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and
its defences. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us,
full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In
fact, in the time you've been reading this, your immune system has probably
identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body.
Each chapter delves deeply into an element of the immune system, including
defences like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like viruses,
bacteria, allergies and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune
system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your
body's defences, how viruses – including the coronavirus – work, and what
goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself.
Enlivened by engaging full-colour graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune
turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects –
immunology – into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien
landscape.
Challenging what you know and think about your own body and how it defends
you against all sorts of maladies and how it might also eventually be your own
downfall, Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably,
and increasingly, the most important system in the body.
Author Biography:
Philipp Dettmer is the founder and head writer of Kurzgesagt, one of the largest
science channels on Youtube with over fifteen million subscribers and one
billion views. After dropping out of high school at age fifteen, Philipp met a
remarkable teacher who inspired in him a passion for learning and understanding
the world. He went on to study history and information design with a focus on
infographics. After college, Philipp started Kurzgesagt as a passion project to
explain complicated ideas from a holistic perspective. When the channel took
off, Philipp dedicated himself full-time to making difficult ideas engaging and
accessible.
Philippdettmer.com
YouTube: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell