The Beautiful Cure

Reviews / Votes

Thrilling ... An eye-opening tour de force of scientific writing that reads like the best kind of adventure story -- Stephen Fry One of the best accounts I have yet come across of the nature of biological science ... Daniel Davis's wonderful book recounts in exceptionally clear and sympathetic prose how research into the immune system has resulted in a health revolution -- Henry Marsh * New Statesman * Thoroughly absorbing ... Davis is a wonderful storyteller -- Bill Bryson Terrific ... Davis relates the extraordinary modern developments in supercharging the body's own immune system to fight disease, and one day maybe even eliminate cancer -- Steven Poole * *****Telegraph * Thrilling ... Do not underestimate the importance of immunology. This field relates to you personally -- Adam Rutherford * Guardian * An inspirational book that not only reveals the secret joys of scientific discovery but is jam-packed full of revelations for non-scientists * Mail on Sunday * Forget AI, robotics, the internet of things. This is where the future feels strange and exciting: in the 'inner universe' of our immune system, and in the radically new therapies that are using it to conquer disease * Sunday Times * Highly readable, beautifully researched, backed up with notes, references and interviews by Davis himself, whose status as an immunology professor confers added credibility. He believes that we now know enough about the major components and interactions of the immune system to begin manipulating them to cure diseases such as cancer. We stand, he predicts, on the threshold of a medical revolution * New Scientist * A sweeping tour d'horizon ... lucid and entertaining ... Much as Siddhartha Mukherjee did in his book The Gene, Davis expertly weaves together human stories and scientific endeavour * The Times * New ways to treat cancer, diabetes, arthritis and other age-related diseases ... Davis is a sure and engaging guide to these developments * Observer * A terrific book by a consummate storyteller and scientific expert * Guardian * Gives extraordinary new details of an ancient remedy that is already more marvellous, powerful and flexible than any medicine to come out of a lab -- Roger Highfield The human body is the most complicated assemblage of chemicals in the known universe. It's a huge scientific challenge to understand how we metabolise, how we acquire immunity, and how drugs work. Daniel Davis is a distinguished expert in this field - and he's a fine writer too. He portrays vividly how great discoveries emerge - via prolonged effort, via cooperation and competition, and sometime sheer luck. This gripping book gives an authentic flavour of how science is actually done - and why it's important for humanity's future -- Martin Rees This book is an insight into new, remarkable and almost unnoticed advances in immunology and shows how medicine is moving on from the world of the gene to the world of the antibody -- Steve Jones Any reader completely unfamiliar with the workings of the immune system is likely to be dumbstruck with admiration for its intricacy ... Davis's book is full of enlivening little anecdotes * Literary Review * [The Beautiful Cure] offers fresh perspectives on future research strategies -- Audrey R. Glynn * Science * Superb -- Matt Chilton, **Books of the Year** * Daily Telegraph * We all think we know how the immune system works, roughly. This exciting and elegant book on new discoveries shows how wrong we were -- 50 Best Books of 2018 * Daily Telegraph * An excellent book on our immune system. His lucid prose lets the science speak for itself, and it beautifully illuminates one of the most exciting frontiers of modern medicine * Science Focus * Engaging and lucid... [There is] a compelling human story of the researchers who made the discoveries. The author has gone to great lengths to interview the key players in the story -- Andrew Taylor-Robinson * The Biologist *