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Immunity: How Elie Metchnikoff Changed the Course of Modern Medicine
Around Christmas of 1882, while peering through a microscope at starfish larvae in which he had inserted tiny thorns, Russian zoologist Elie Metchnikoff had a brilliant what if the mobile cells he saw gathering around the thorns were nothing but a healing force in action? Metchnikoff’s daring theory of immunity—that voracious cells he called phagocytes formed the first line of defense against invading bacteria—would eventually earn the scientist a Nobel Prize, shared with his archrival, as well as the unofficial moniker “Father of Natural Immunity.” But first he had to win over skeptics, especially those who called his theory “an oriental fairy tale.”
Using previously inaccessible archival materials, author Luba Vikhanski chronicles Metchnikoff’s remarkable life and discoveries in the first moder n biography of this hero of medicine. Metchnikoff was a towering figure in the scientific community of the early twentieth century, a tireless humanitarian who, while working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, also strived to curb the spread of cholera, syphilis, and other deadly diseases. In his later years, he startled the world with controversial theories on longevity, launching a global craze for yogurt, and pioneered research into gut microbes and aging. Though Metchnikoff was largely forgotten for nearly a hundred years, Vikhanski documents a remarkable revival of interest in his ideas on immunity and on the gut flora in the science of the twenty-first century.
Using previously inaccessible archival materials, author Luba Vikhanski chronicles Metchnikoff’s remarkable life and discoveries in the first moder n biography of this hero of medicine. Metchnikoff was a towering figure in the scientific community of the early twentieth century, a tireless humanitarian who, while working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, also strived to curb the spread of cholera, syphilis, and other deadly diseases. In his later years, he startled the world with controversial theories on longevity, launching a global craze for yogurt, and pioneered research into gut microbes and aging. Though Metchnikoff was largely forgotten for nearly a hundred years, Vikhanski documents a remarkable revival of interest in his ideas on immunity and on the gut flora in the science of the twenty-first century.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 14, 2016
3.5 stars
Full review to come!
Full review to come!
December 21, 2016
Unlike most of the other reviewers, I was not given this book in exchange for a review. I just happened upon it in the library and checked it out on a whim. I'm so glad that I did because it was fascinating. I tend to really like biographies, and I love science more than anything else on the face of the earth, so I really really REALLY love biographies of scientists. It's clear that the author did a ton of research, and the notes at the end are extensive. I also just really liked her writing style.
March 1, 2016
Next to nothing was known about the body's natural defenses. Metchnikoff Was a Darwinian who had the belief that in the study of imple organisms would reveal the "immunities" that would appear in the higher forms of life. This is a book that showed me a man and scientist's life that lived at the end of the 19th century.
Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book free from the author/publisher from Netgalley. I was not obliged to write a favorable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book free from the author/publisher from Netgalley. I was not obliged to write a favorable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
August 11, 2016
A great insight into the world of 19th century science and the history of the study of immunology. It tells the story of the mostly forgotton Elie Metchnikoff and his pursuit to understand immunity.
March 28, 2016
Elie Metchnikoff is credited with several medical discoveries, some of which were found before Mother Russia was entirely ready to receive them. This interesting though technically challenging text is the story of his life, and especially of his scientific career and achievements. Thank you Net Galley and Chicago Review Press for the DRC, which I received in exchange for an honest review. This title will be available to the public April 1.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Russia still had a tsar—a royal ruler with power similar to that of an emperor—and it still had serfs, who legally could not leave the plots of land assigned to them to farm for the benefit of royal landowners. It was not an ideal climate for science or any other aspect of enlightened thinking, but Metchnikoff was not only gifted, he was immeasurably stubborn, and by such methods as posing as a college student in order to sneak into lectures, he achieved an excellent education and began to pave new inroads toward discovering how the human immune system works.
His theory that cells in the human body swarm around and dispose of microbes that enter the body in order to kill germs was true, but proving it to those with authority in Russia was not an easy thing to do. Only recently had germs been discovered to cause disease; not so long before, it was assumed that God smote certain people or their loved ones in retribution for their bad behavior or thoughts. Being a scientist in such a place was challenging, and eventually, after being snubbed repeatedly by the German academics he sought to win over, Metchnikoff found his way to Paris and the Pasteur Institute, where he would spend the bulk of his career.
His refusal to participate in elitist cliques that feasted on 8 course gourmet meals while half of London starved warmed my heart, as did his refusal to be roped into other social pretensions. Really, in another time and place, this would be my kind of guy.
Here I must disclose the fact that the sciences are not my forte. Only since retirement from teaching in the humanities have I found the time and confidence to explore memoirs of famous scientists. Last autumn I read and reviewed the biography of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the man that discovered a brain disease that was the result of repeated blows to the head consistent with American football. Cheered by my success in understanding and reviewing that fascinating story, I decided to tackle this one…with less satisfactory results.
I have never been good at understanding science. It’s that simple.
So if science and in particular the history of immunology or disease is your wheelhouse, this may be a four or five star read for you. But although I am not scientifically minded, I do have a sturdier education than the average American, and so I think I’m being fair in saying that the average reader-on-the-street that picks this up due to general interest rather than exceptional training may find it to be a great deal of work.
I did check the endnotes; I always do. So unless the author has simply invented a lot of sources in other languages than English—which seems very unlikely indeed—then I can safely say that this author has relied primarily on sources that the average English-speaking reader will not be able to tap into. Strong documentation from a wide variety of sources.
Recommended to those with a higher than average facility for matters of science, and for those interested enough to wrestle with challenging material.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Russia still had a tsar—a royal ruler with power similar to that of an emperor—and it still had serfs, who legally could not leave the plots of land assigned to them to farm for the benefit of royal landowners. It was not an ideal climate for science or any other aspect of enlightened thinking, but Metchnikoff was not only gifted, he was immeasurably stubborn, and by such methods as posing as a college student in order to sneak into lectures, he achieved an excellent education and began to pave new inroads toward discovering how the human immune system works.
His theory that cells in the human body swarm around and dispose of microbes that enter the body in order to kill germs was true, but proving it to those with authority in Russia was not an easy thing to do. Only recently had germs been discovered to cause disease; not so long before, it was assumed that God smote certain people or their loved ones in retribution for their bad behavior or thoughts. Being a scientist in such a place was challenging, and eventually, after being snubbed repeatedly by the German academics he sought to win over, Metchnikoff found his way to Paris and the Pasteur Institute, where he would spend the bulk of his career.
His refusal to participate in elitist cliques that feasted on 8 course gourmet meals while half of London starved warmed my heart, as did his refusal to be roped into other social pretensions. Really, in another time and place, this would be my kind of guy.
Here I must disclose the fact that the sciences are not my forte. Only since retirement from teaching in the humanities have I found the time and confidence to explore memoirs of famous scientists. Last autumn I read and reviewed the biography of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the man that discovered a brain disease that was the result of repeated blows to the head consistent with American football. Cheered by my success in understanding and reviewing that fascinating story, I decided to tackle this one…with less satisfactory results.
I have never been good at understanding science. It’s that simple.
So if science and in particular the history of immunology or disease is your wheelhouse, this may be a four or five star read for you. But although I am not scientifically minded, I do have a sturdier education than the average American, and so I think I’m being fair in saying that the average reader-on-the-street that picks this up due to general interest rather than exceptional training may find it to be a great deal of work.
I did check the endnotes; I always do. So unless the author has simply invented a lot of sources in other languages than English—which seems very unlikely indeed—then I can safely say that this author has relied primarily on sources that the average English-speaking reader will not be able to tap into. Strong documentation from a wide variety of sources.
Recommended to those with a higher than average facility for matters of science, and for those interested enough to wrestle with challenging material.
August 20, 2016
Really enjoyed this. Ok, particularly the earlier parts dealing with his immunity research. Was really more of. Jog rapt, but interesting throughout.
November 10, 2016
this is about Elie Metchnikoff and the early days of immunity research. personalities and politics figure in.
August 15, 2019
Poorly written. It comes across like a biography, but contains a lot of redundant, uninteresting stuff about Metchnikoff's life that contributed zilch to the topic at hand; and the part about "changing the course of modern medicine" is stretched out so much across the chapters and described either with too much chemistry/medical jargon or too much detail/technicality that it was difficult to process and was therefore hard to see how the supposed "changing of course" was supposed to have taken place. You're better off googling "Elie Metchnikoff" and reading short articles about him rather than this long, tedious, painful mess.
June 14, 2020
I stumbled across this book in a suggested reading list for ANOTHER biography I was searching for. I love biographies... and thought this would be appropriate for down time during COVID19. I really like the authors style... she kept it interesting with personal and professional accomplishments, short chapters, and digestible science for those without a degree. I loved the book... would highly recommend.
April 28, 2020
A fascinating biography and timeless of tale of interweaved scientific and personal lives. Too bad the author is a bit shallow in her style and knowledge of the times (e.g. describing the bombing of Paris during WWI etc (Germans dropped five bombs in the first raid...)). But modulus these small lapses an amazing book.
June 6, 2021
This would have been more interesting if it had been about more than one person who was involved in discovering the immune system; Mechnikoff was practically wrong about more things than he was right. An important guy, for sure, but I didn’t particularly enjoy reading quite this much about him. He doesn’t sound like someone I would want to work with.
April 21, 2025
I found this book fascinating....the things folks have gone through to prove their hypothesis!!! Elie discovered the very basis of health!! And, one I preach and teach today....A HEALTHY GUT!! Eat cultured foods, people!!
January 2, 2021
If you’re interested in the history of science/medicine I’d recommend this biography of Elié Metchnikoff, considered by many to be the father of immunology (along with Paul Ehrlich) or at least the study of innate immunity. It’s a fairly quick read. I’d give it 4/5 stars.
April 3, 2016
(I received access to this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
I was interested in this book based on what I thought it would be, which was one of two things: either it was going to be a biography of Metchnikoff (that is, the story of his life) or it would be a coherent history of the theory of Immunity. The book is actually neither.
While there is no doubt it is a work of great magnitude and unprecedented scholarship, Immunity lacks any kind of narrative thread to draw the material together and make it an interesting read. It is simply a collection of dry facts put down in roughly chronological order, without any sort of focus or sifting of information.
The closest thing to a common theme in the book is the political battle between Metchnikoff's view of phagocytes as the key to fighting disease, and the competing German view which focused on the serum of the blood and other bodily fluids (if I am understanding correctly). However, this "story" is told by informing the reader about who addressed whom at which medical convention in which year, and who responded with what article in which medical journal. Of course, this is how such battles are fought, but it is dry, dry stuff.
Much more interesting are the facts that spill infrequently regarding Metchnikoff's relationship with his wife, and his friend and colleague Roux (with whom it is suggested that Metchnikoff's wife had an affair, with Metchnikoff's knowledge and even approval), and the types of people each of them were socially. Unless you have more than a casual interest in the evolving science of fighting disease, reading this book is like panning for gold: largely unrewarding, though occasionally you will find a worthwhile nugget.
It's not the book I thought it would be, but it is a work of great scholarship, culled from a variety of original sources. It has much to contribute to our knowledge of Metchnikoff and the great work of his life.
I was interested in this book based on what I thought it would be, which was one of two things: either it was going to be a biography of Metchnikoff (that is, the story of his life) or it would be a coherent history of the theory of Immunity. The book is actually neither.
While there is no doubt it is a work of great magnitude and unprecedented scholarship, Immunity lacks any kind of narrative thread to draw the material together and make it an interesting read. It is simply a collection of dry facts put down in roughly chronological order, without any sort of focus or sifting of information.
The closest thing to a common theme in the book is the political battle between Metchnikoff's view of phagocytes as the key to fighting disease, and the competing German view which focused on the serum of the blood and other bodily fluids (if I am understanding correctly). However, this "story" is told by informing the reader about who addressed whom at which medical convention in which year, and who responded with what article in which medical journal. Of course, this is how such battles are fought, but it is dry, dry stuff.
Much more interesting are the facts that spill infrequently regarding Metchnikoff's relationship with his wife, and his friend and colleague Roux (with whom it is suggested that Metchnikoff's wife had an affair, with Metchnikoff's knowledge and even approval), and the types of people each of them were socially. Unless you have more than a casual interest in the evolving science of fighting disease, reading this book is like panning for gold: largely unrewarding, though occasionally you will find a worthwhile nugget.
It's not the book I thought it would be, but it is a work of great scholarship, culled from a variety of original sources. It has much to contribute to our knowledge of Metchnikoff and the great work of his life.
December 16, 2018
Fantastic book. I work in the field of immunology, very inspiring! At times it just reads likes a science thriller.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews