On Immunity: An Inoculation
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On Immunity: An Inoculation Hardcover – September 30, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for On Immunity:
"Subtle, spellbinding. . . . Sontag said she wrote Illness as Metaphor to 'calm the imagination, not to incite it,' and On Immunity also seeks to cool and console. But where Sontag was imperious, Biss is stealthy. She advances from all sides, like a chess player, drawing on science, myth, literature to herd us to the only logical end, to vaccinate." —The New York Times Book Review
“On Immunity casts a spell. . . . There’s drama in watching this smart writer feel her way through this material. She’s a poet, an essayist and a class spy. She digs honestly into her own psyche and into those of 'people like me,' and she reveals herself as believer and apostate, moth and flame." —Dwight Garner, The New York Times
"Fascinating. . . . Biss can turn practically anything into a metaphor for immunity: Bram Stoker's Dracula, the Occupy Wall Street movement, immigration policy, Greek mythology. . . . By exploring the anxieties about what's lurking inside our flu shots, the air, and ourselves, she drives home the message that we are all responsible for one another. On Immunity will make you consider that idea on a fairly profound level." —Entertainment Weekly, Grade: A
"Biss's gracious rhetoric and her insistence that she feels 'uncomfortable with both sides' of the rancorous fight may frustrate readers looking for a pro-vaccine polemic. Yet her approach might actually be more likely to sway fearful parents, offering them an alternative set of images and associations to use in thinking about immunization. . . . Compelling. . . . This is writing designed to conquer anxiety." —The New Yorker
"Deftly interweaving personal history, cultural analysis, science journalism, and literary criticism, On Immunity investigates vaccinations from many angles—as the mechanism that protects us from disease, a metaphor for our wish for invulnerability, and a class-based privilege. . . . [Biss] has been compared to Joan Didion, and the reasons are obvious here. Like Didion she has a gift for coming at her subjects from all sides, in unsentimental, lyrical prose." —Meghan O'Rourke, Bookforum
"Eula Biss sanely takes on the anti-vaccine mob." —Vanity Fair
"[An] elegant, intelligent and very beautiful book, which occupies a space between research and reflection, investigating our attitudes toward immunity and inoculation through a personal and cultural lens." —Los Angeles Times
“Biss ably tracks the progress of immunization. . . . Biss also administers a thoughtful, withering critique to more recent fears of vaccines—the toxins they carry, from mercury to formaldehyde, and accusations of their role in causing autism. The author keeps the debate lively and surprising, touching on Rachel Carson here and ‘Dr. Bob’ there. She also includes her father’s wise counsel, which accommodates the many sides of the topic but arrives at a clear point of view: Vaccinate. Brightly informative, giving readers a sturdy platform from which to conduct their own research and take personal responsibility.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“[A] far-reaching and unusual investigation into immunity. . . . Artfully mixing motherhood, myth, maladies, and metaphors into her presentation, Biss transcends medical science and trepidation.” —Booklist, starred review
"A thoughtful and probing analysis of the cultural myths surrounding vaccination. Biss mines within herself and within her community to understand how and why such myths gain traction in society." —Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine
About the Author
Eula Biss is the author of Notes from No Man’s Land, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism, and The Balloonists. Her essays have appeared in the Believer and Harper’s Magazine. She teaches at Northwestern University and lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By
S. Goldstein
on October 1, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Comment
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I work in pediatrics- a field that deals with immunizations and questions about immunizations on a daily basis. I have lectured about vaccines to numerous parent and medical groups. There are a cornucopia of books about vaccines out there, and there are many that are good and very good. On Immunity is just excellent.
In my medical training, during the late 1990's-early 2000's, we were taught very little about how to discuss vaccines with parents. The attitude was that the doctor would tell the parent "your child is getting some shots today" and the parent would say "that's great, thanks!" and we would all go on with our day. When I entered the real world, I found that parents had many questions - some crazy and some very legitimate. As I was about to have my own child, I worried that some of the fears I was hearing could be true, and I spent a great deal of time doing further research. In the subsequent years, I put together a lecture that addressed the common fears about vaccines, and discussed with families and other health care workers the validity of those fears. I read many good books about vaccines (like the Mnookin book, and some of Paul Offit's books). I also read some bad ones (the Sears book, Jenny Mccarthy's odd views). On Immunity is definitely at the top of the heap.
If you are a parent who wants to understand the truths and consequences about vaccines in a concise but literate way, or if you are a health care worker who wishes you had a better way of framing answers to questions from concerned families, then you absolutely must read this book. It is gripping but light, short but detailed, and above all it is true. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
In my medical training, during the late 1990's-early 2000's, we were taught very little about how to discuss vaccines with parents. The attitude was that the doctor would tell the parent "your child is getting some shots today" and the parent would say "that's great, thanks!" and we would all go on with our day. When I entered the real world, I found that parents had many questions - some crazy and some very legitimate. As I was about to have my own child, I worried that some of the fears I was hearing could be true, and I spent a great deal of time doing further research. In the subsequent years, I put together a lecture that addressed the common fears about vaccines, and discussed with families and other health care workers the validity of those fears. I read many good books about vaccines (like the Mnookin book, and some of Paul Offit's books). I also read some bad ones (the Sears book, Jenny Mccarthy's odd views). On Immunity is definitely at the top of the heap.
If you are a parent who wants to understand the truths and consequences about vaccines in a concise but literate way, or if you are a health care worker who wishes you had a better way of framing answers to questions from concerned families, then you absolutely must read this book. It is gripping but light, short but detailed, and above all it is true. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By
Amelia Gremelspacher
TOP 500 REVIEWER on October 2, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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"I am no longer fearless." She is a new mother who finds that the most perilous thing we may do is to bear children. No longer an entity contained within her skin, she sets off to determine the real risks inherent in inoculations, among other interventions in the modern world. she notes in a lucid voice, that to act is to start the future in motion, and to do nothing still sets that future in its course.
I found this to be an amazing voice who has placed the fears and and anxieties of our modern medicine in the context of our existence as true beings in the whole of our world. Her various observations of the philosophy of immunizations are truly startling and clear in her well researched discussions of the role of science in our world.
She makes a cogent argument for out inability to rationally assess true risk in the face of fear. In another instance, her discussion of "herd immunity" point to the obligation that those who have access to care have to those who do not. The risk of contagion is much higher for one person who is inoculated among many who are not than for a person not inoculated in a crowd of those who are. The more people who are protected, the more protection for those who are not protected. She also explores the continuum of our bodies with the world around us, and notes that toxicity to a scientist is one of degree of exposure. While she does not address the evils of high fructose syrup, plastics bleeding toxins or other villains in definitive terms; she does point out that each threat must be taken in context.
This is a book that challenges the mind without torturing the reader with obscure or overly technical writing. The education on risk, immunity, ad the role of medicine in our world is succinct and at times lyrical. I cannot recommend this book too highly.
I found this to be an amazing voice who has placed the fears and and anxieties of our modern medicine in the context of our existence as true beings in the whole of our world. Her various observations of the philosophy of immunizations are truly startling and clear in her well researched discussions of the role of science in our world.
She makes a cogent argument for out inability to rationally assess true risk in the face of fear. In another instance, her discussion of "herd immunity" point to the obligation that those who have access to care have to those who do not. The risk of contagion is much higher for one person who is inoculated among many who are not than for a person not inoculated in a crowd of those who are. The more people who are protected, the more protection for those who are not protected. She also explores the continuum of our bodies with the world around us, and notes that toxicity to a scientist is one of degree of exposure. While she does not address the evils of high fructose syrup, plastics bleeding toxins or other villains in definitive terms; she does point out that each threat must be taken in context.
This is a book that challenges the mind without torturing the reader with obscure or overly technical writing. The education on risk, immunity, ad the role of medicine in our world is succinct and at times lyrical. I cannot recommend this book too highly.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By
Amy R.
on October 2, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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ScienceThrillers Review: On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss is an extraordinary, unclassifiable, vital book that deserves to be widely read and reflected upon. Written by a critically acclaimed essayist, On Immunity is a memoir, an essay collection, a history, a social commentary, a parenting guide, a literary work...The author herself has a hard time succinctly answering the question, "What is your book about?"
I'll tell you what On Immunity is about by telling you why it's an important book. As a scientist and medical professional myself, I "believe" in vaccination. My kids get their immunizations on schedule, I get my flu shot every fall. I bristle when I encounter anti-vaccine people and propaganda. And like many other people in my shoes, I look at the data on the benefits versus risks of vaccination, and I wonder why "those people" don't get it. Essentially, I'm asking, "What is WRONG with those people?"
But did I ever truly, honestly explore the question from a more neutral perspective, not, what is wrong with vaccine refuseniks, but, why do they perceive the world so differently from the way I do?
Fortunately, Eula Biss has deeply explored this important question, and in unfailingly beautiful, intelligent prose, she has answered it with a depth and breadth that astonishes.
Clinical study data have nothing to do with it, which really shouldn't surprise anyone. In how many aspects of our lives do we ignore data and make decisions based on other considerations? Many-no, most.
Biss makes crucial insights into the numerous complex streams that feed the anti-vaccine movement. To begin, she uses an ongoing metaphor of the vampire. The act of injecting a foreign substance into the body is fraught with metaphysical significance.Read more ›
I'll tell you what On Immunity is about by telling you why it's an important book. As a scientist and medical professional myself, I "believe" in vaccination. My kids get their immunizations on schedule, I get my flu shot every fall. I bristle when I encounter anti-vaccine people and propaganda. And like many other people in my shoes, I look at the data on the benefits versus risks of vaccination, and I wonder why "those people" don't get it. Essentially, I'm asking, "What is WRONG with those people?"
But did I ever truly, honestly explore the question from a more neutral perspective, not, what is wrong with vaccine refuseniks, but, why do they perceive the world so differently from the way I do?
Fortunately, Eula Biss has deeply explored this important question, and in unfailingly beautiful, intelligent prose, she has answered it with a depth and breadth that astonishes.
Clinical study data have nothing to do with it, which really shouldn't surprise anyone. In how many aspects of our lives do we ignore data and make decisions based on other considerations? Many-no, most.
Biss makes crucial insights into the numerous complex streams that feed the anti-vaccine movement. To begin, she uses an ongoing metaphor of the vampire. The act of injecting a foreign substance into the body is fraught with metaphysical significance.Read more ›
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