Can I give this book extra stars? It's one of the greats.

If you're at all interested in medical science, reading this book will be a wonderful experience. I would expect this to be true even if you don't have arthritis (I don't).

I learned quite a bit about the immune system, the nervous system, and about how first-rate minds think about research problems. Of course, I also learned about arthritis, too, as you might expect.

What I think I will remember best, though, is the letter from Pamela Bjorkman in chapter 20, where she describes her work, over the course of 8 years, in determining the structure of the HLA protein molecule using X-ray crystallography.

No, that's not true, I'll remember having my mind engaged, thinking along with Derrick Brewerton, as he lays out the research into arthritis, researcher by researcher, step by step. Chapter 20 will still be an exciting high point, though.

And this might sound funny, but I particularly enjoyed seeing pictures of all the researchers in scientific medicine, from Pasteur to the present day.

Since each chapter was quite famously interesting, I hope you don't mind if I list the table of contents so you can get a better idea of the scope and focus of this eminently re-readable book:

Prologue

1. The Search for Germs

2. The Body's Defenses

3. Joints and Arthritis

4. Bacteria, Alive or Dead

5. Tales of Ticks in America

6. Access to the Joints

7. Three Key Diseases

8. The Many Faces of Arthritis

9. One Gene, One Disease

10. Joint failure

11. Age and Sex

12. Other Common Causes of Pain

13. Adrenal Hormones

14. The Nervous System

15. Personality, Emotions, and Pain

16. Populations and Families

17. Self and Nonself

18. The Race for Answers

19. DNA, RNA and Proteins

20. The Beauty of Crystals

21. Cells in Action

22. Truth is Rarely Simple

23. Prospects for Prevention and Treatment

Some Common Disorders

Glossary

Sources and Suggested Readings

Voluntary Health Organizations

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