Perhaps books like this will stimulate some emerging genius to rethink 'immunology' without the baggage of current paradigms. Admittedly, this is in part because the extremely large accumulations of scientific insights into immune mechanisms that have occurred in the last two decades have yet to be distilled into a cohesive narrative. However, the science of immunology is poorly presented. Since most of the book is personal interest vignettes it should be quite accessible to listeners. However the very important point that balance is achieved through factors which are still not understood by currently accepted dogma is presented on the slap shod foundation of current immunology. The central message that immune balance as opposed to strength is a cornerstone of health is worth hearing. I highly recommend this extraordinary book.” (Douglas Preston, number-one best-selling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God)

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 audiobook, 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.

An elegant defense