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A review by paigers7
On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss
3.0
I'm not entirely sure what to think of this book. To sum it up, it's basically a group of Biss's sometimes-connected musings on immunity and public health and vampires and other things vaguely related to these topics. Some were definitely thought provoking, but others I was not so sure about. Her thoughts on Dracula and the metaphors it offers as they relate to immunity were usually interesting. I also particularly liked her argument that the word "toxins" as used to discuss modern health is used in the same way that the word "filth" once was. And her take-down of a doctor who has achieved discussed by writing wishy-washy, unhelpful books on vaccines was lovely.
But, still, hmm.
Some of the other metaphors and allusions discussed were not quite as helpful or revelatory as the vampire one was. And she used a great deal of intimate memories of her young child and his birth and his first few years, which sometimes provided great insight, but other times only illuminated how subjective her essays were. This was not exactly a bad thing, given that she was not pretending to write objectively nor in any scientific capacity. In fact, she was specifically writing this from the viewpoint of a concerned, anxious mother. However, this only reinforced that this book was one of ideas more than true, scientific argument.
Three stars.
But, still, hmm.
Some of the other metaphors and allusions discussed were not quite as helpful or revelatory as the vampire one was. And she used a great deal of intimate memories of her young child and his birth and his first few years, which sometimes provided great insight, but other times only illuminated how subjective her essays were. This was not exactly a bad thing, given that she was not pretending to write objectively nor in any scientific capacity. In fact, she was specifically writing this from the viewpoint of a concerned, anxious mother. However, this only reinforced that this book was one of ideas more than true, scientific argument.
Three stars.