La Crosse County Library's Reviews > Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive

“The immune system is the most complex biological system known to humanity, other than the human brain.”

I think it’s safe to say that all of us to some degree, since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, have an elementary knowledge of immunology (the study of the immune system).

Terms often tossed around in the news were (are) “antibodies,” “antigen,” “immunization,” and even “cytokine storm.”



The book Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive is a gorgeously illustrated cliff-notes lesson on the immune system that will help you make connections between the latter word-salad from above, such as:

“An antigen is a piece of an enemy that your immune system can recognize.”

Meaning that artificially inducing immunity through vaccination introduces your body to say, the COVID-19 virus antigen (its unique molecular signature), so it can prepare defenses against the virus when you encounter it in the wild. (One of the most amazing things to me about the immune system is that it produces “memory cells” after an infection or vaccination, that “remember” a very specific antigen and can help the immune system respond more effectively next time.)



Or, you may have heard “antigen” in the context of the early COVID tests, which look for viral antigens from your nasal swab to determine if you have COVID and you must quarantine for a while. (I gotta say, some of those sampling techniques are like having your brain poked. Not fun!)

To counter antigens and build up defenses against intruders, the immune system uses “antibodies,” which are just proteins with chemical puzzle pieces that match up to a specific antigen in an enemy (bacteria, virus, parasite, etc.) in order to destroy it.



So, I ended up coming out of the book with remembering “antigen” and “antibodies” in the context that they are adversaries, e.g., antigens=bad guys; antibodies=good guys.

When the book was discussing how your immune system responds to viruses, I couldn’t help but continue to think of COVID, and how if the immune system responds too strongly to a virus, it could kill you. (I was glad that the book had its own chapter devoted to COVID-19.)



I think that’s a strength of Immune, that it helps readers to get an overview of important concepts like immune responses, without getting too much in the weeds and overwhelmed, by using accessible, scientific language combined with the exploration of real-life (relevant) cases.

Because the book is so engaging, once you got past some of the essential vocabulary surrounding the cellular players in the immune response, I couldn’t stop reading it. (Well maybe that’s just me nerding out. But still!)

“The best way to kill a lot of viruses is to destroy infected cells, and the viruses inside them. Let us pause for a moment to appreciate the magnitude of what we are talking about here. Your immune system needs to be able to kill your own cells. Your immune system has an actual license to kill you.”

The above quote recognizes the extremely fine balance the immune system must walk. Immune cells (like T cells or macrophages) release “cytokines.” (Yes, I wasn’t about to forget cytokines. They’re an important piece of the puzzle.)

Cytokines basically are released by whatever immune cells are responding to an infection, leading to inflammation, which is basically a chemical signal for reinforcements, attracting the big guns needed in serious fights (such as Killer T Cells, a satisfyingly simple and logical name given to a cell whose purpose is, well, to kill invading enemies).



Basically, the immune system is made up of a whole bunch of non-thinking parts of you (cells, proteins, molecules, etc.), that use various cytokines to communicate with each other. The more cytokines released, the more urgent the cells picking up the cytokine signal react, revving up the immune response.

Okay, this is where I get to the other term I mentioned in the beginning: “cytokine storm.”



In certain severe cases of COVID-19, an excess release of cytokines kicks the immune system into overdrive against the virus. The immune system is very powerful, but is usually good at tempering its reactions, so as not to accidentally kill you.

However, not everyone has the exact same immune systems, and some are more predisposed to overreacting to a viral infection for whatever reasons (scientists think genetics is part of it, but not the complete picture) not understood too well currently.

(view spoiler)[ Viruses are sneaky little things, and will use your cells to disguise its presence, forcing the immune system to target any of your cells that are carrying the virus. Out of all disease-causing organisms mentioned in the book, viruses scared me the most. They’re fascinating, but mostly terrifying! (hide spoiler)] When the immune system gets too revved-up, its more likely to cause life-threatening complications.



COVID-19 usually infects the lungs. So, that can lead to difficulties breathing (inflammation releases fluids into the infected area) as some areas of the lungs are swamped with fluids, and eventual organ failure. All very, very horrifying, and awful.

Overall, I experienced more excitement and wonder than dread when learning about the immune system in Immune. It makes me even more thankful for my own immune system and appreciative of the heavy lifting it does to keep me alive (it may be the most graceful part of me, a very, very clumsy person), with a crucial assist from vaccines. (Shout-out to both!)



Give Immune a try! It’s a fascinating look into a system whose herculean work you don’t have to think about often when it’s going right.



Happy reading!

-Cora



Find this book and other titles within our catalog.