Introduction to Medical Immunology

The fourth edition of this introductory text is the collaborative effort of 13 contributors. It is edited by Dr. Virella, who also authors or co-authors 21 of the 30 chapters. The chapters follow an outline organization, which helps to emphasize and prioritize the main points to be made, and each chapter ends with a set of questions or problems (with answers provided) for the students to use for self-assessment. The range of topics covered is appropriate and divided into major sections organized as ""Basic Immunology,"" ""Diagnostic Immunology,"" and ""Clinical Immunology." This new edition pays particular attention to the needs of student learners and relevance to medicine. The book is directed toward the teaching of immunology to medical students. The chapters in the clinical immunology section, which comprise approximately half of the material, include clinical cases and questions appropriate for use in a case discussion format. Each chapter includes a brief bibliography, including a mixture of original literature and reviews, including some only a year or two old. The illustrations are black-and-white drawings and gray-tone photomicrographs. Although many of the illustrations are well designed and informative, many are not (for instance, using type size too small for comfortable reading and poor contrast between the gray and black tones). The book, in general, seems underillustrated, especially when compared with many of the excellent comparable texts available. An additional design problem is the failure to include spaces between outline sections (other than before and after titles of the major headings), making the remaining text run together and reducing the benefit ofthe outline approach.