Synopsis
The textbook that has defined the field of immunology since 1984 is now in its thoroughly revised and updated Sixth Edition. This comprehensive, up-to-date text will be of interest to graduate students,post-doctoral fellows, basic and clinical immunologists, microbiologists and infectious disease physicians, and any physician treating diseases in which immunologic mechanisms play a role.
This edition features expanded coverage of regulatory T cells, innate immunity, and dendritic cells. Additional chapters on cytokines are also included.
A companion Website offers the fully searchable text, plus all illustrations in full color and comprehensive lists of references. (www.fundamentalimmunology.com)
John A. Robinson
The third edition of this textbook is a global presentation of the fundamentals of modern immunology. The author has assembled a galaxy of immunology superstars to write chapters in the areas of their expertise. Although the number of contributors is large, the variance in quality of presentation of their work is not as mixed or uneven as in many other multiauthored texts. The purpose is to provide a sophisticated presentation of most concepts of modern immunology. The intended audience is any and all scientists, including clinicians, interested in immunology. The book has several interesting twists. The overview of immunology by Dr. Paul precedes a very informative and entertaining history of the subject. There is a tendency to ""simplify"" immunology texts with unintelligible cartoons and arrow pathways but this has been avoided. The illustrations are appropriate and have highly readable legends. (Garbled complex legends are also a persistent problem in many immunology texts.) In most chapters, the reader is directed to pertinent reviews on various topics from the text itself. One of the most daunting tasks is editing a multiauthored text in this rapidly changing field. Moreover, the ability to present an immunology text as current, at the time of publication, is almost impossible. Dr. Paul has done all of the above and deserves kudos. This is an excellent text. I thoroughly enjoyed chapter 30. It was topical, prescient, and readable. A refreshing skeptical attitude concerning the utility of animal models and in vitro assays for understanding human diseases permeates the entire text. Healthy skepticism is urgently needed in the field of immunology. Clinicians who cannot keep up withcurrent concepts will find this book a gold mine as they try to make sense of the many immunological syndromes.