Book Reviews

Janeway’s Immunobiology
by Kenneth Murphy, Paul Travers, Mark Walport
Garland Science, 27 November 2007

This is the 7th edition of the well-known textbook on immunology, Immunobiology. Despite Dr. Janeway passing in 2003, his textbook lives on and has been renamed, in his honor, Janeway’s Immunobiology. It still introduces all basic concepts of immunology in an easy to understand manner that made it a favorite for undergraduate, graduate and medical students.

After a basic introduction, each section goes into details about various aspects of the immune response: recognition of antigen, development of mature lymphocyte receptor, the adaptive immune response, the immune system in health and disease and the origins of immune responses. The book is filled with color illustrations which contribute to the reader's understanding of the various concepts covered in each section. The end-of-chapter questions introduced in the 6th edition are still there and provide an easy way for students to revise the different notions introduced in each chapter.

The book has been thoroughly revised since its last edition in 2004. In its latest edition, Janeway’s Immunobiology revisions include recent discoveries on regulatory T cells, NK cells, Toll-like receptors and mucosal immunity. As in previous editions, the book includes a CD-ROM with narrated animations and figures from the book in PowerPoint format to include in a presentation.

I have been using Janeway’s Immunobiology since my days at the university and I still consult it today. With this newest revision, I believe Janeway's Immunobiology is the most up-to-date immunology textbook available. I am glad that Dr. Janeway’s legacy lives on with this latest incarnation of his textbook and that young undergraduate students will be introduced to immunology by Dr. Janeway, as I was.

Review by PLapierre

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