免疫系統是人類健康與安適、生或死的關鍵，
本書探索人類免疫系統和健康的祕密，
以宏大的報導及精心的布局，成就一部史詩，為這類書籍開創先河。
內容交織著尖端的科學新知與四位主人翁私密的生命故事。

「免疫系統走的路如同在深淵上走鋼索，要活下來取決於免疫系統知道分辨誰是自己人，誰又是外來者，還得對應三大挑戰：壞傢伙的變異性；讓血液在幾秒內流過全身的中央循環系統；以及必要的癒合力。以上種種，免疫系統不但都要做到，還要做得恰到好處，不能在過程中把自己也殺了。免疫系統走了一條最細緻的路，它能成功是因為有高效率的維和部隊在幫忙，讓人誤以為它們的工作是魔法。最近七十年的免疫學一直追求魔法的破解，想知道我們的防禦機制在關鍵核心如何運作分工。而這趟驚異旅程開始轉向，從對免疫系統的粗略了解轉到分子層級的探究，結果讓現代醫學深入魔法中心，從精妙防禦的內部機制直接插手你的健康。」──本書作者 麥特．瑞克托

免疫系統是世上最想建構和諧關係的維和部隊，
精妙運作只為實現一個基本目標——平衡。

免疫系統是身體必要的防禦網絡，是守護者，能對抗疾病，癒合傷口，維持秩序，保持平衡，讓人活著。從T細胞到自然殺手細胞，這些微型步兵軍團在體內巡邏，以即時通訊網絡互相聯絡。經過千年來的演化磨練，免疫系統幾乎能面對無限威脅。
免疫系統複雜微妙，容易因為疲勞、壓力、毒素、年齡增長和營養失調等現代生活問題而受到損傷，甚至過度清潔都能傷害它。矛盾的是，它雖脆弱，卻是神奇武器，能出乎意料地刺激自己身體，導致當今自體免疫疾病的流行。

本書透過癌末、愛滋病和自體免疫失調四位患者私密的生命故事，行雲流水地引導讀者探索如偵探小說般的科學故事，上從黑死病到20世紀對疫苗及抗生素的突破，以及革新免疫學的尖端實驗室，讓癌症免疫療法成為可能實踐的真理；微生物叢基因體和自體免疫療法正改變數百萬人的生命。本書更生動捕捉有效療法與免疫系統間的互動細節，以及人類行為與環境對免疫系統的互為影響，往往出發點是善意，但總是走在剃刀邊緣，稍不慎就會讓這出色系統失去平衡。
作者更廣泛與數十位世界知名科學家做全新深度訪談，豎立里程碑，如2018年諾貝爾生醫獎得主美國免疫學者艾利森（James Allison）和日本免疫學家本庶佑等人，以平衡的態度調查最深沉的生存之謎，成就一個個深刻動人的人性故事，透過四位主角的眼睛，映照出我們「優雅防禦」的重要面向，解碼人體免疫系統和健康及生死的祕密！

本中文書介出自《免疫解碼: 免疫科學的最新發現, 未來醫療的生死關鍵》奇光出版出版

“A deeply reported and entertainingly written exploration of the human immune system and how it works.” —USA Today

National Bestseller * Essential reading during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

The Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist "explicates for the lay reader the intricate biology of our immune system " (Jerome Groopman, MD, New York Review of Books)

New York Times science reporter Matt Richtel's An Elegant Defense illuminates the human immune system as never before, uniquely entwining intimate patient stories with science’s centuries-long quest to unlock the mysteries of sickness and health.

The immune system is our body’s essential defense network, a guardian vigilantly fighting viruses and illness, healing wounds, maintaining order and balance, and keeping us alive. Its legion of microscopic foot soldiers—from T cells to “natural killers”—patrols our body, linked by a nearly instantaneous communications grid. It has been honed by evolution over millennia to face an almost infinite array of threats.

For all its astonishing complexity, however, the immune system can be easily compromised by fatigue, stress, toxins, advanced age, and poor nutrition—hallmarks of modern life—and even by excessive hygiene. Paradoxically, it is a fragile wonder weapon that can turn on our own bodies with startling results, leading today to epidemic levels of autoimmune disorders.

Richtel effortlessly guides readers on a scientific detective tale winding from the Black Plague to twentieth-century breakthroughs in vaccination and antibiotics, to the cutting-edge laboratories that are revolutionizing immunology—perhaps the most extraordinary and consequential medical story of our time. The foundation that Richtel builds makes accessible revelations about cancer immunotherapy, the microbiome, and autoimmune treatments that are changing millions of lives. An Elegant Defense also captures in vivid detail how these powerful therapies, along with our behavior and environment, interact with the immune system, often for the good but always on a razor’s edge that can throw this remarkable system out of balance.

Drawing on his groundbreaking reporting for the New York Times and based on extensive new interviews with dozens of world-renowned scientists (including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), Matt Richtel has produced a landmark book, equally an investigation into the deepest riddles of survival and a profoundly human tale that is movingly brought to life through the eyes of his four main characters, each of whom illuminates an essential facet of our “elegant defense.”