Principles of Immunology

Abstract

This book has been written by 26 contributors who are presently or have been affiliated with the Center for Immunology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Approximately the first half of the book is devoted to basic aspects of immunology, and the second half is devoted to the application of these concepts and to clinical diseases. Unfortunately, the text suffers from that difficulty present in any multi-authored book: there is great variation in the quality of the individual chapters. Generally, the first half of the book, which has chapters dealing with the basic principles of immunology, is far better than the latter half dealing with the applications of immunology and with immunologic diseases. From the standpoint of the physician, the chapters on immunosuppression and autoimmune diseases are particularly disappointing in their brevity and superficiality, while the chapters on bacterial, mycotic, viral, and parasitic diseases are unduly long.