--- product_id: 301350670 title: "Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive" price: "€ 63.55" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.pt/products/301350670-immune-a-journey-into-the-mysterious-system-that-keeps-you store_origin: PT region: Portugal --- # Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive **Price:** € 63.55 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive - **How much does it cost?** € 63.55 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pt](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/301350670-immune-a-journey-into-the-mysterious-system-that-keeps-you) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular science YouTube channel Kurzgesagt—In a Nutshell “Through wonderful analogies and a genius for clarifying complex ideas, Immune is a truly brilliant introduction to the human body’s vast system for fighting infections and other threats.”—John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars You wake up and feel a tickle in your throat. Your head hurts. You’re mildly annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself. Meanwhile, an epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you head out the door. But most of us never really stop to ask: What even is our immune system? Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In Immune , Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defenses. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us, full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In fact, in the time you’ve been reading this, your immune system has probably identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body. Each chapter delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies, and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body’s defenses, how viruses work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself. Enlivened by engaging full-color graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects—immunology—into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien landscape. Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body. Review: I loved this book! - I loved this book! During the pandemic, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Naturally I became very interested in learning about the human body, my condition specifically, and how disease and illness happen. I knew about antibodies and autoantibodies from reading articles about COVID and my own health situation, but I didn't really know much about the immune system beyond that. This book was simply excellent. It provided a great high level overview of the various immune cells, what they do, and how they interact with each other and pathogens. The book wasn't dry like a textbook. It was written with more of a storytelling tone while still providing scientific explanations on the different components of the immune system. There was also a lot of humor thrown in and I frequently found myself chuckling. Most of the book is about the various immune cells and what happens when they encounter bacteria or viruses. Once all the cells have been discussed, the remainder of the book covers additional topics like allergies, autoimmune diseases, cancer, vaccines, specific illnesses like measles and HIV/AIDS, and how stress and the environment impact the immune system. Those topics were easy to understand and appreciate after learning about the immune system players. I learned a lot from this book! I have a much better understanding of the immune system. And as a patient, I thought it was actually really cool to be able to look back at some of my past bloodwork and finally know what my doctor was checking. This is definitely a book that I will reference in the future. One of the other reviewers criticized the references to COVID and claimed that the book was politically motivated. I disagree. COVID wasn't discussed all that much in the book, and when it was mentioned, the author made it very clear that the information he included was the current understanding as of the time he was writing the book. He made it clear that our understanding of it would likely change as we learned more in the coming years and his information could become outdated. I thought his references actually made the content more applicable to today's current events. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm actually kind of sad I finished it because it was that good. If you're interested in learning about the immune system, but you don't have a scientific background (or even if you do!) this would be a great book for you! Review: Truly Excellent. Brilliant Concept and Execution. - After spending a lot of free time reading articles in scientific periodicals, books, and the occasional documentary or online video (TED talks etc), I wanted to increase my understanding of the human immune system. The idea was to go beyond the paper-thin treatments given by television media and other popular sources (who basically throw buzz-words around for a 2 minute story without really understanding things). At the same time I realized I would be overwhelmed by the level of detail and terminology in a typical college level text — typically the only places you can find real detail on a topic like this. The world of molecular biology and immunology is awash in a very choppy, barf-inducing sea of acronyms and chemical symbols, inscrutable labels, and hair-splitting concepts (as in five different things that sound almost exactly the same but aren't so you re-read, re-read, re-read). After searching for middle ground it can be very easy to give up. Enter this book, which goes into real depth in explaining the components of our immune system, and does use some clinical terminology but never in a way that forces you to re-read something 3 times. The author even jokes on a few occasions about how ridiculous the naming schemas and terminologies are and then sets to giving certain concepts his own (usually funnier) names. But maybe the best thing about this book is how the author weaves in an amazing collection of original, color illustrations that really help the reader reinforce and actually learn how things work. This is very smart: human beings are heavily visual creatures and with a topic this complicated having a set of detailed, intuitive visuals to go with the text is invaluable. These aren't ordinarily text book artworks; they are designed, sequenced, and captioned in such a way that it quickly reinforces the larger concept of what you just read before you move on to the next chapter. Honestly never seen anything like it and I think it would be great if more high schools and colleges used approaches like this to keep kids from getting frustrated. I know for sure I would not have been scared away from biology and medical topics at that age, if I'd read something like this first. Imagine you have a tough scientific topic but instead of having an 800 page text book being the first thing the student is hit with, they get a book like this for the first month of class to whet their appetites and then they go into the text book with some eagerness to know more and the confidence provided by a basic but real understanding. Because of the author's approach the book is not only informative but fun to read because you're learning stuff on a level that goes well beyond what the popular media give us, without having to slog through the way you would with a text book. All the while at the end you actually want to go and get that textbook to take your learning even further ("hey, maybe I can understand this stuff after all or at least some of it!"). Bottom line the author has done a superb job of educating us without sounding like a sleep-inducing professor or some media clown trying to be over-dramatic while getting it half right or glossing over important details. Would give it 6 stars if I could. Awesome (and I rarely use that word in book reviews : ) ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #12,831 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #6 in Immunology (Books) #14 in Immune Systems (Books) #24 in Anatomy (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 9,432 Reviews | ## Images ![Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81FuGhBLSWL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I loved this book! *by C***. on January 15, 2022* I loved this book! During the pandemic, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Naturally I became very interested in learning about the human body, my condition specifically, and how disease and illness happen. I knew about antibodies and autoantibodies from reading articles about COVID and my own health situation, but I didn't really know much about the immune system beyond that. This book was simply excellent. It provided a great high level overview of the various immune cells, what they do, and how they interact with each other and pathogens. The book wasn't dry like a textbook. It was written with more of a storytelling tone while still providing scientific explanations on the different components of the immune system. There was also a lot of humor thrown in and I frequently found myself chuckling. Most of the book is about the various immune cells and what happens when they encounter bacteria or viruses. Once all the cells have been discussed, the remainder of the book covers additional topics like allergies, autoimmune diseases, cancer, vaccines, specific illnesses like measles and HIV/AIDS, and how stress and the environment impact the immune system. Those topics were easy to understand and appreciate after learning about the immune system players. I learned a lot from this book! I have a much better understanding of the immune system. And as a patient, I thought it was actually really cool to be able to look back at some of my past bloodwork and finally know what my doctor was checking. This is definitely a book that I will reference in the future. One of the other reviewers criticized the references to COVID and claimed that the book was politically motivated. I disagree. COVID wasn't discussed all that much in the book, and when it was mentioned, the author made it very clear that the information he included was the current understanding as of the time he was writing the book. He made it clear that our understanding of it would likely change as we learned more in the coming years and his information could become outdated. I thought his references actually made the content more applicable to today's current events. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm actually kind of sad I finished it because it was that good. If you're interested in learning about the immune system, but you don't have a scientific background (or even if you do!) this would be a great book for you! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Truly Excellent. Brilliant Concept and Execution. *by I***N on February 12, 2022* After spending a lot of free time reading articles in scientific periodicals, books, and the occasional documentary or online video (TED talks etc), I wanted to increase my understanding of the human immune system. The idea was to go beyond the paper-thin treatments given by television media and other popular sources (who basically throw buzz-words around for a 2 minute story without really understanding things). At the same time I realized I would be overwhelmed by the level of detail and terminology in a typical college level text — typically the only places you can find real detail on a topic like this. The world of molecular biology and immunology is awash in a very choppy, barf-inducing sea of acronyms and chemical symbols, inscrutable labels, and hair-splitting concepts (as in five different things that sound almost exactly the same but aren't so you re-read, re-read, re-read). After searching for middle ground it can be very easy to give up. Enter this book, which goes into real depth in explaining the components of our immune system, and does use some clinical terminology but never in a way that forces you to re-read something 3 times. The author even jokes on a few occasions about how ridiculous the naming schemas and terminologies are and then sets to giving certain concepts his own (usually funnier) names. But maybe the best thing about this book is how the author weaves in an amazing collection of original, color illustrations that really help the reader reinforce and actually learn how things work. This is very smart: human beings are heavily visual creatures and with a topic this complicated having a set of detailed, intuitive visuals to go with the text is invaluable. These aren't ordinarily text book artworks; they are designed, sequenced, and captioned in such a way that it quickly reinforces the larger concept of what you just read before you move on to the next chapter. Honestly never seen anything like it and I think it would be great if more high schools and colleges used approaches like this to keep kids from getting frustrated. I know for sure I would not have been scared away from biology and medical topics at that age, if I'd read something like this first. Imagine you have a tough scientific topic but instead of having an 800 page text book being the first thing the student is hit with, they get a book like this for the first month of class to whet their appetites and then they go into the text book with some eagerness to know more and the confidence provided by a basic but real understanding. Because of the author's approach the book is not only informative but fun to read because you're learning stuff on a level that goes well beyond what the popular media give us, without having to slog through the way you would with a text book. All the while at the end you actually want to go and get that textbook to take your learning even further ("hey, maybe I can understand this stuff after all or at least some of it!"). Bottom line the author has done a superb job of educating us without sounding like a sleep-inducing professor or some media clown trying to be over-dramatic while getting it half right or glossing over important details. Would give it 6 stars if I could. Awesome (and I rarely use that word in book reviews : ) ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Rivetting Journey into The Intricacies of Your Immune System *by D***Y on April 27, 2022* We carry our body around with us mostly unaware of the great battle going on within, between antibodies and pathogens involving surveillance and countersurveillance, subterfuge and intricate double verifications. When we get sick and our immune system is called to save the day, we may acknowledge its presence but most of us understand little about how it functions and keeps us alive for many decades despite constant onslaught from parasites, viruses and bacteria. Our immune system has wonderous mechanisms for repair and regeneration and also contains warning mechanisms and self-destruction for disrupted cells. It has an emergent intelligence which seems more than the composite feedback mechanisms of each individual line of defence. The immune system has memory cells which can quickly recognize a foreign antigen to which the body was previously exposed even though it may be a long time ago. It's first function is to distinguish between "self" and "other", and when a series of mutations and malfunctions lead to mistakes in the identity of cells, we develop autoimmune diseases and cancer. The immune system must answer these questions: - How not to be wasteful with resources of energy? - What kinds of forces need to be frontline and which ones held in reserve? - How can you react strongly to a sudden invasion while preventing your army from exhausting itself too quickly? - How to deal with the massive scope of the body and millions of different enemies to repel? Philipp Dettmer has written a book that is both exciting and informative. His riveting action descriptions bring alive the dynamics of the immune system in a unique way and is amply illustrated. The experience is more like watching a western or war film that reading a textbook. In fact ,if you try reading a textbook on immunology, you will quickly get bogged down in a mass of complicated details, since our immune system is really really complicated. The genius of this book is to simplify while still giving you lots of information. Most books on science written by journalists sacrifice information to give you an interesting reading experience, while books written by experts give you too much information and are pretty indigestible. Dettner is a science communicator who recovered from cancer so quite simply he is the man for the job. His writing is alive and imaginative in its use of metahors and analogies and you will enjoy the voyage into the intricacies of your immune system. ## Frequently Bought Together - Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive - The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human - I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.pt/products/301350670-immune-a-journey-into-the-mysterious-system-that-keeps-you](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/301350670-immune-a-journey-into-the-mysterious-system-that-keeps-you) --- *Product available on Desertcart Portugal* *Store origin: PT* *Last updated: 2026-10-13*