When first purchasing the book “On Immunity: An Inoculation”
by Eula Biss, even just looking at the cover and judging by the title, I was
fully expecting an in-depth, complicated book about immunity, its history, and
present standings. While I braced for a wide variety of medical terms to be
thrown at me or detailed descriptions of the chronicles of immunity through
time, I was excited to start this book because immunology is my favorite medical
topic. However, the simplicity of the book took me by surprise. Within the
first chapter, Biss introduces her book with mythical stories she was told as a
young girl that related to immunity. The following chapters consist of Biss’s
personal experience with how controversies of immunity affected her life choices
and perspectives, with information about immunity continually being weaved in.
Although the book is different from what I initially expected,
Biss brings up great points about immunity, including the discrepancy of
information to the general patient, media, and medical professionals. For example,
she talks about the war of vaccinations: those who are for it and those who are
against it, discussing the effect of herd immunity and the beliefs of some
people regarding the safety/effectiveness of vaccines.
I specifically can relate to the discord the controversies of
vaccinations can produce, as my own family has experienced tension regarding
the topic. Two members of my family, each with different backgrounds but both
with a larger than average number of young kids, disagree about getting
vaccines, causing the topic to never dared be uttered during family get-togethers.
So Biss’s explanation of the dispute on vaccines is personally relevant.
Biss brings up great points regarding arguments within
modern medicine, like the stress she feels when trying to make informed decisions
for herself and her child, but I dislike the fact that this book is told through
the eyes of a mother struggling through the tangles of medicine. Sure, it is
more relatable to the reader, and empathy can be felt as one can witness the
pressures of being a mother, but personally, I feel as though the book would be
much more appealing if it was written differently. She talks about her and her father’s
blood type (O-negative, what “giving” people), her consulting with other
mothers (like when she makes the decision to get her son vaccinated for H1N1), and
throws more useless tid-bits in here and there, making the book seem scattered and
disconnected, like “The magazines I paged through in my midwife’s waiting room
when I was pregnant with my son ran advertisements for disturbing little sculptures
that could be made from ultrasound images of my developing fetus” (Biss, 105).
Does the reader really need to know fragments like that? No, I wish she would
take a step back and be a little more concise with her writing and focus the
book more. She has great sections of information where I have actually learned
a lot, but her writing style could be more relevant/concise.
Biss, E. (2015). On immunity: an inoculation. Minneapolis, MN: Greywolf.
I had the same thoughts about the book before starting to read. I thought it was going to be a confusing book about all the different types of immunity making it hard to read. However, Biss made this an easy read by including her own personal experience about them. I'm going to have to disagree with you on your thoughts about her writing style. I feel if she didn't write it through a mother's perspective and provided random memories throughout the book, the reader would've felt disconnected to the story.
ReplyDeleteYes, I like that the book is easier to read because it is not as dense with information and has a story to it. As I read the book more, I am becoming more thankful for its simplicity because I'd be struggling if it was a very dense book. I see what you are saying, but sometimes I feel like I could get the just of what she is trying to say even if she left some things out. But yes, it does add to the story.
DeleteI agree with Ethan. I think Biss's personal connection and random knowledge lend credibility to her story. I think this book would be much more difficult to read if it did not contain those bits of relate-able information.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the tidbits part does not appeal to me, as I understand it does not to you, someone who wants to know more about science, they are a great case study of a mother's mindset and love for her children. Through her scattered stories, I can see how a mother with this information, and not that, might go about researching more information and deciding on vaccinating her kids. Thus, the people in charge of designing the media campaign for vaccination might just find them useful.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good point. I am also thinking that the way she lays out her information as scattered is representative of the research process of for vaccinations or any topic that is controversial and has a lot of information behind it. You find things here and there and it's a scattered tug of war of ideas. So I am under the impression she wrote the book like that on purpose.
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