Dying to live

This book gives an up-to-date account of the inner workings of our immune system. Aimed at the general reader, it looks at areas of science including fever, AIDS and cancer. Central to the book, from which the title derives, is the idea that in the war against disease our bodies sacrifice millions of cells - some are lost in choosing which cells fight diseases most effectively, others die in these efforts, and yet others die in the recovery and repair processes. The result is a finely tuned and well directed attack against invaders of the body which is aimed at the restoration of good health. Only by pitting all manner of complex immune cells against such infectious agents can we continue to survive in the world.