Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

From the creator of the massive and engaging YouTube channel Kurzgesagt (In a Nutshell), a thorough and vibrantly illustrated journey into the human immune system—how it works and why it is both our greatest ally and most dangerous enemy.

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. Meanwhile, an epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are dying for you to be able to complain as you head out the door.

So what, exactly, IS your 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.

About the Author

Philipp Dettmer is the founder and head writer of Kurzgesagt, one of the largest educational channels on Youtube with nearly thirteen million subscribers and one billion views. After dropping out of high school at age fifteen, Philipp went on to study history and information design with a focus on infographics. After college, Philipp started Kurzgesagt as a passion project to explain complicated ideas from a holistic perspective. When the channel took off, Philipp dedicated himself full-time to making educational content and difficult ideas engaging and accessible.

Author Residence: Munich, Germany

Author Hometown: Munich, Germany