Immunotherapy seeks to get the immune system to stir up a molecular ``commotion in the blood'' to battle disease. This sweeping yet remarkably detailed report focuses on the efforts to use immunotherapy in the fight against cancer. Science journalist Hall (Mapping the Next Millennium, 1991, etc.) opens with an account of William Coley, a 19th-century American physician whose pioneering use of a crude cancer vaccine can now be seen as the beginning of cancer immunotherapy in this country. As Hall points out, neither Coley nor his critics had ``the foggiest notion of the cells, the molecules, and the order of interaction involved in the immune response,'' an ignorance that today is finally lifting. The scene next shifts to 1950s London and the discovery of the much-ballyhooed interferon, which in turn led to the discovery of a host of other factors involved in immunological responses. Among these are interleukin-2, discovered in 1976 in one of Robert Gallo's laboratories and made famous by Steven Rosenberg in his work at the National Cancer Institute, and interleukin-12, the current favorite. Along the way, Hall details the development of T-cell-specific antibodies, the tumor necrotizing factor, and monoclonal antibodies. He seems to have interviewed just about every major immunology researcher, and he makes vivid their political maneuverings in the race for scientific primacy. The journey of a new therapeutic tool from laboratory to clinic is a hazardous one, and Hall makes it both understandable and exciting. He also shows us the hype that surrrounds each new ``magic bullet'' and the inevitable letdown when each one fails to live up to its hype. In the end, Hall leaves the reader optimistic that the ``commotion in the blood'' is not random noise but a ``beautifully scored piece of music'' that future researchers will be able to read. As gripping as a spy thriller. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: June 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8050-3796-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1997
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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