It's not easy going for the layperson although it is certainly more accessible than a great deal of medical information. But it IS fascinating.
Early strategies of dealing with cancer by manipulating the immune system which were discovered and championed by Dr. Coley (with surprising success since even he wasn't sure exactly how they worked) were abandoned and forgotten when the new "radiation" model found more powerful supporters in the medical community, like Dr. Coley's boss, Dr. Ewing.
Years later we see a terrific toll in human suffering exacted by radiation and chemotherapy. Current stem cell research and other immunological researches all "stem" from Coley's early experiments. Hall writes about the scientists, operating alone or in teams, who have made huge strides in the world of immune system research and therapy protocols, many of which the average person has never heard about.
I learned an enormous amount about how the body works and about how the immune system develops. Yes, this information is very detailed and not always easy to grasp, but Hall does a terrific job in trying to make it understandable to the non-medical reader. So many times we laypeople are flummoxed by jargon.
Hall details what scientists have been doing in the world of immune research. Some familiar names pop up like Dr. Gallo and others prominent in AIDS research. And Hall does a great job in writing about the personalities, the conflicts and the politics of the medical world--it's not all science, which is daunting enough to us!
I can't speak highly enough of this book. I really know a lot more about how the body works after reading it and I'm encouraged for the future, if only the public will get behind supporting these brilliant and innovative thinkers.
I had cancer which is one of the things that interested me in this book. As challenging as the book is, I could NOT put it down. It makes for interesting speculation about how our world would have developed if cancer protocols had gone in a different direction.