Paradoxically, it is a fragile wonder weapon that can turn on our own bodies with startling results, leading today to epidemic levels of autoimmune disorders. It has been honed by evolution over millennia to face an almost infinite array of threats.įor all its astonishing complexity, however, the immune system can be easily compromised by fatigue, stress, toxins, advanced age, and poor nutrition-hallmarks of modern life-and even by excessive hygiene. Its legion of microscopic foot soldiers-from T cells to “natural killers”-patrols our body, linked by a nearly instantaneous communications grid. The immune system is our body’s essential defense network, a guardian vigilantly fighting illness, healing wounds, maintaining order and balance, and keeping us alive. Matt Richtel's An Elegant Defense uniquely entwines these intimate stories with science’s centuries-long quest to unlock the mysteries of sickness and health, and illuminates the immune system as never before. Two women with autoimmunity discover their own bodies have turned against them.

An epic, first-of-its-kind book, entwining leading-edge scientific discovery with the intimate stories of four individual lives, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist.Ī terminal cancer patient rises from the grave. I highly recommend this extraordinary book.A magnificently reported and soulfully crafted exploration of the human immune system – the key to health and wellness, life and death. Heartfelt and moving, full of compassion, love, and the human drama, this is the work of a writer of high ethical character who is grappling with big issues and deep humanistic problems.

But it is also a story about people facing mortality, about the passion of scientists searching for truth, and a meditation on death and how all of us struggle with the ultimate mystery. On one level it is a fascinating and engrossing account of the latest, and quite astonishing, discoveries involving the human immune system and how it works. “An Elegant Defense by Matt Richtel is one of those rare nonfiction books that transcends the genre.

An epic, first-of-its-kind book, entwining leading-edge scientific discovery with the intimate stories of four individual lives, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist. A magnificently reported and soulfully crafted exploration of the human immune system–the key to health and wellness, life and death.

Book an elegant defense