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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
On Immunity: An Inoculation
Reader Score
80%
80% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 16 reviews on
"On Immunity is a book I've recommended too many times to count--a searching, empathetic, ultimately unassailable argument, not just for vaccination but for thoroughly acknowledging our interdependence, and for all that becomes necessary and possible once we do. Written before COVID, it nonetheless speaks directly to the concerns of the pandemic era--to the fact that we are dangerous as well as vulnerable, to the way collective well-being and individual self-interest are configured at odds to one another when they are fundamentally intertwined."--Jia Tolentino
In this bold, fascinating book, Eula Biss addresses our fear of the government, the medical establishment, and what may be in our children's air, food, mattresses, medicines, and vaccines. Reflecting on her own experience as a new mother, she suggests that we cannot immunize our children, or ourselves, against the world. As she explores the metaphors surrounding immunity, Biss extends her conversations with other mothers to meditations on the myth of Achilles, Voltaire's Candide, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Susan Sontag's AIDS and Its Metaphors, and beyond. On Immunity is an inoculation against our fear and a moving account of how we are all interconnected-our bodies and our fates.
Book Details
- Publisher: Graywolf Press
- Publish Date: Sep 15th, 2015
- Pages: 224
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.20in - 5.50in - 0.70in - 0.60lb
- EAN: 9781555977207
- Categories: • Disease & Health Issues• Health Care Issues• Children's Health
More books to explore
About the Author
More books by Eula Biss
What people are saying
My name is Jamelle Bouie. @nytopinion columnist. Co-host of @UnclearPod. Upgrade your grey matter, ‘cuz one day it may matter.
@KendraWrites have you ever read eula biss’ “on immunity?” she has a whole riff on this exact thing
Journalist and author of Birth Control (out now!) and 90s Bitch.
I want to recommend Eula Biss's marvelous book On Immunity because it's delicious reading, but also because it's the best reportage I've read about why we vaccinate societies and children, and why doing so is far safer than the grisly alternatives.
"It reminded me that we’re all deeply interconnected—whether we like it or not—and asks the very good question “What will we do with our fear?” I wish everyone in the world would read it."
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"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 . . . [Biss] advances from all sides, like a chess player, drawing on science, myth, literature to herd us to the only logical end, to vaccinate." --Parul Sehgal, The New York Times Book Review
"By exploring the anxieties about what's lurking inside our flu shots, the air, and ourselves, [Biss] 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)
"On Immunity . . . weaves metaphor and myth, science and sociology, philosophy and politics into a tapestry rich with insight and intelligence." --Jerome Groopman, The New York Review of Books
"A philosophical look at the history and practice of vaccination that reads like Joan Didion at her best. If you are yourself a nonfiction author, your initial response to this book might be to decide immediately on another line of work; Biss is that intimidatingly talented . . . .This is cultural commentary at its highest level, a searching examination of the most profound issues of health, identity and the tensions between individual parenting decisions and society." --The Washington Post
"[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
"On Immunity is a book I've recommended too many times to count--a searching, empathetic, ultimately unassailable argument, not just for vaccination but for thoroughly acknowledging our interdependence, and for all that becomes necessary and possible once we do. Written before COVID, it nonetheless speaks directly to the concerns of the pandemic era--to the fact that we are dangerous as well as vulnerable, to the way collective well-being and individual self-interest are configured at odds to one another when they are fundamentally intertwined."--Jia Tolentino
"Eula Biss's On Immunity is informative, thought-provoking, and beautifully written. It's one of those rare books that has become more relevant with time."--Elizabeth Kolbert
What people are saying
My name is Jamelle Bouie. @nytopinion columnist. Co-host of @UnclearPod. Upgrade your grey matter, ‘cuz one day it may matter.
@KendraWrites have you ever read eula biss’ “on immunity?” she has a whole riff on this exact thing
Journalist and author of Birth Control (out now!) and 90s Bitch.
I want to recommend Eula Biss's marvelous book On Immunity because it's delicious reading, but also because it's the best reportage I've read about why we vaccinate societies and children, and why doing so is far safer than the grisly alternatives.