This book is an absolute wonderful way to dive into the world of Immunology. It's super accessible and the colourful metaphors ensure that any person could follow. 

Now this is very much an introduction, and reading this after a few uni immunology courses, I didn't learn a whole lot of extra details (beside the occasional fun fact). But it did very much put everything in perspective perfectly, it made me grasp familiar concepts with more certainty and in a way that I could now explain it to others too. 

As an aspiring science communicator, this is a great experience and inspiration :) 

This is a nice intro to the immune system, at least from this layperson's perspective. I skipped most of the pictures as I didn't find them helpful (just pretty), but they may work better for you.

I found the grammatical choices distracting at times. It read very conversationally, which was nice given the dense material, but there were plenty of sentences with atypical structures for written material. It felt more stream-of-consciousness to me, but I could have used a little more predictable structure so that the concepts could really be the focus rather than how the words were written.

I also question some of the guidance provided. For instance in the chapter about cancer,

it seems there is a case for staying positive because it reduces stress (which the author shares is good for the immune system) and increases quality of life, even if attitude doesn't affect your survival chances according to the data. It makes sense not to fake it, of course, but it also makes sense to find a way to stay positive given the stress and quality of life factors.

A comprehensive overview of the human immune system, with beautiful graphics that distills the essence of how our bodies work to keep us alive in a world full of hostile organisms, as well as the ways it can fail to do so. Dettmer favors telling a tractable story but is also very clear about when things are being simplified. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone, though some of the language and imagery may not be appropriate for children younger than high school or so.