Good Immuno Book?

[Ypo.]

Any suggestions? My book "medical immunology" sucked SO bad-I want one that I can actually learn from.

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[Ezekiel20]

Any suggestions? My book "medical immunology" sucked SO bad-I want one that I can actually learn from.

Try 'Basic Immunology' by Abbas and Lichtman. The first chapter paints the overall picture, and subsequent chapters elaborate on them.

However, the later chapters can seem to get very detailed. It is useful to read chapter one, and pick out specific portions of the later chapters. I found that reading it all at once can be difficult due to the amount of detail.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-4942060-4737451

(I had to go to Amazon UK since amazon.com is down)

 

[Skichic56]

I will second this book, but also add that it is the least detailed immuno book I've seen. There's just enough detail to learn the concepts, and the chapters tend to reinforce each other and reiterate the concepts from previous ones. It's an excellent book with great illustrations and I would highly recommend; it's a quick yet thorough read.

 

[tigress]

I recommend The Immune System by Peter Parham. It uses the same illustrations as Janeway's Immunobiology, which is still the gold standard for basic immunology. But Parham is more condensed, with everything you need for med school but no more. My one issue with Parham is that the order of the chapters isn't ideal. But you can read them out of order if you want.

For basic intro-level immuno I really think Parham is ideal. I also have Abbas, but for some reason I don't like it too much. I do know that that one is popular as well, though.

 

[nockamura]

I second The Immune System by Parham. Very condensed version of Janeway, but perfect level of detail needed for medical school and fairly cheap (<$50?).

 

[Ypo.]

I actually just finished my IMMUNO class and didn't understand a thing b'c the teacher was horrible and I learn from texts anyway, and the text was horrible. Needless to say I want a good text so I can refer to it during next year. I would rather have more detail in the text than not enough, because if the explanation isn't there, I won't be able to understand it. I did not take immuno in college, so everything was new to me-and the book was so general (I read the whole thing but it didn't explain things!), it felt like it was just glossing concepts over in the assumption that I'd already been exposed to the concepts.

So given, that criteria-do you think Parham is good for me-ie-detailed enough and well-written? I do most of my learning out of text books (especially when the coursepacks are bad like they are at my school)...

 

[Taus]

I'll also 2nd the Parham book.....very well written and complimented my immuno course very well.

 

[dr.z]

Janeway's immunology book is pretty good.

 

[latinfridley]

For our immuno course we read all of Cellular and Molecular Immunology by Abbas & Lichtman. It is very detailed, but well written. So, if you have the time, I'd go for this one. It's the big boy version of Basic Immunology by Abbas.

 

[LadyWolverine]

Janeway's immunology book is pretty good.

Janeway is fantastic...if you are getting a PhD in immunology

There's too much information to sift through, so I'd go with Parham if you've never had immunology before. We used Parham in my undergraduate course, and Janeway in my graduate immunology course, and they both cover the same basics. There's also a cool case studies in immunology sidekick that may be helpful.

 

[JDWflash44]

I took immunology in grad school this year and loved Janeway's Immunobiology, but it may be a bit much for med school immunololgy considering our class was for grad students and MDs that wanted a deeper understanding of immunology. My $.02

Jim

 

[tigress]

FWIW, in immunology PhD programs (and, by extension, immunology labs, PIs, etc.) you don't use Janeway. You use Paul, which is like 3 times the size of Janeway We did sometimes refer to Janeway if we needed to brush up on something.

But I agree that Janeway is more than what's necessary for med school. That's why I think Parham is best. I first learned immuno from Parham and I still refer back to it.

(Somehow I'm stuck up about immunology even though I dropped out of the PhD program. )

 

[Ypo.]

FWIW, in immunology PhD programs (and, by extension, immunology labs, PIs, etc.) you don't use Janeway. You use Paul, which is like 3 times the size of Janeway We did sometimes refer to Janeway if we needed to brush up on something.

But I agree that Janeway is more than what's necessary for med school. That's why I think Parham is best. I first learned immuno from Parham and I still refer back to it.

(Somehow I'm stuck up about immunology even though I dropped out of the PhD program. )

Thanks, folks. Parham it is.

 

[cfdavid]

I'm taking a 400/500 level Immunology class right now. We're using Parham's The Immune System. It's a good book and the illustrations are really nice.

Actually, I need to get back to reading it, but SDN.........