eShop USA > Books > At War Within: The Double-Edged Sword of Immunity
At War Within: The Double-Edged Sword of Immunity
Our Price: $30.00 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on qualifying items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.079
EAN: 9780195115680
ISBN: 0195115686
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: May 29, 1997
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
Related Items: Featured Listmania!
Editorial Review:
In the seventeenth century, smallpox reigned as the world's worst killer. Luck, more than anything else, decided who would live and who would die. That is, until Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, an English aristocrat, moved to Constantinople and noticed the Turkish practice of "ingrafting" or inoculation, which, she wrote, made "the small- pox...entirely harmless." Convinced by what she witnessed, she allowed her six-year-old son to be ingrafted, and the treatment was a complete success--the young Montagu enjoyed lifelong immunity from smallpox. Lady Montagu's discovery would, however, remain a quiet one; it would be almost 150 years before inoculation (in the more modern form of vaccination) would become widely accepted while the medical community struggled to understand the way our bodies defend themselves against disease.
William Clark's At War Within takes us on a fascinating tour through the immune system, examining the history of its discovery, the ways in which it protects us, and how it may bring its full force to bear at the wrong time or in the wrong place. Scientists have only gradually come to realize that this elegant defense system not only has the potential to help, as in the case of smallpox, but also the potential to do profound harm in health problems ranging from allergies to AIDS, and from organ transplants to cancer. Dr. Clark discusses the myriad of medical problems involving the immune system, and he systematically explains each one. For example, in both tuberculosis and AIDS, the underlying pathogens take up residence within the immune system itself, something Clark compares to having a prowler take up residence in your house, crawling around through the walls and ceilings while waiting to do you in. He discusses organ transplants, showing how the immune system can work far too well, and touching on the heated ethical debate over the use of both primate and human organs. He explores the mind's powerful ability to influence the performance of the immune system; and the speculation that women, because they have developed more powerful immune systems in connection with childbearing, are more prone than men to contract certain diseases such as lupus. In a fascinating chapter on AIDS, arguably the most deadly epidemic seen on Earth since the smallpox, Clark explains how the disease originated and the ways in which it operates. And, in each section, we learn about the most recent medical breakthroughs.
At first glance, it may appear that our immune system faces daunting odds; it must learn to successfully fend off, not thousands, but millions of different types of microbes. Fortunately, according to Clark, it would be almost impossible to imagine a more elegant strategy for our protection than the one chosen by our immune system, and his At War Within provides a thorough and engaging explanation of this most complex and delicately balanced mechanism.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Disappointing
Clark's "Sex & The Origins Of Death" is one of the most remarkable books ever written, cover-to-cover an exhilarating revelation. So with great anticipation for "War Within" it was a sad surprise to find it become a bedtime sedative. Clark's masterly command of vivid painting with words disappears almost entirely after chapter two and appears only sparsely before that. Of course it is not without several gems: "Like an army lashing out blindly against an unseen and unmeasured enemy, the immune ... Read More
Rating:  - Should have read this one a long time ago!
This was one of those books I purchased quite a while ago when I was in an HIV lab and I put it aside, and never quite got around to reading it. In the midst of a summer heatwave where I didn't want to go out to the library, and was browsing for something I hadn't read, I got back to this book. And...what a book it is!!! Immunology can be one of the most mind-boggling difficult things to understand, yet Clark, who is obviously at the forefront of this area of medicine, really knows how to make this ... Read More
Rating: - Our Immune System: A Mixed Blessing.
Clark's description of the war being waged within all of us demarcates the front lines: where our immune system (however functional or dysfunctional it may be) must constantly react to foreign microorganisms and our own cells. Not only does Clark discuss congenital immune diseases that leave some of us in various states of vulnerability, he also goes into detail about allergies, asthma, TB, viral hepatitis B, and other diseases in which the immune system wreaks havoc in the body, causing more damage ... Read More
Rating: - Clark is a gem.
Most neurosurgeons and astrophysicists are busy constructing the future. Some of these overacheivers suffer from a mild mental disorder called hypergraphia and compulsively write stuff down. Fortunately Dr. William Clark suffers from hypergraphia and we benefit hugely because we can look into his mind by reading his books, and what a view it is. This book is essentially about mammalian immunology. Immunology is an odd subject to get because its quite dynamic, meaning its operation is determined by a wide ... Read More
Rating: - It made knowing the body so easy I was a professor when done
This is a fantastic book if you want to begin to know how your body and immune system work. From colds to cancer, It simplified and helped me to know how to begin the course of a natural cure. It put years of study about disease in real focus.
Related Categories:
| |
 |
