During the last several years, many books have been published to explain basic immunology to the nonimmunologist. Most of those directed to medical audiences have attempted to do this in the context of a discussion of "immunological diseases." This book, written primarily for a medical audience, does not take that approach. Thus, the basics of immunology have been reviewed free of a compulsion to discuss every mechanism possibly related to disease. Another novelty is that the book was written by a single author, a happening almost unheard of in books of this kind. The product is a beautifully written, historical overview of modern immunology, perhaps unequaled in the field.
The book starts at square one, but rapidly proceeds into an amazingly indepth survey of such complicated areas of immunology as histocompatibility systems and genetic regulation of immune responsiveness. The various components of the immune system also receive their due, with