Book Review: Rediscovering the Immune System as an Integrated Organ

Abstract

The immune system may seem incredibly complex. Researchers in immunology are amassing enormous amounts of detailed information without gaining proportional insights. Why might this be? So asks Peter Bretscher near the start of his book Rediscovering the Immune System as an Integrated Organ. He argues that contemporary immunology fails to provide understanding at the level of the system because it is dominated by molecular and cellular considerations. He reminds us of a famous quotation: Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts, before stating the ambitious aim of his book: to make plausible an integrated and readily accessible view of how the immune system functions. By Peter Bretscher. FriesenPress, 2016. 288 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4602-7406-4.