"Essential Immunology offers up-to-date discussions of immunologic tolerance, idiotpy, autoimmunity and immune regultion presented in a way that allows readers to see both the inter-relations among these processes and their application to host defenses and human disease. Professor Roitt has the ability to grasp and explain the larger concepts of an often very confusing field, while not al all neglecting the myriad of facts that give these concepts substance and weight. Overall, Essential Immunology is the best of the immunology primers, it clearly outdistances other textbooks in the area by its scope, its organization, its clarity and its ability to convey a carefully balanced view of immunology. The medical student who first comes on the mysteries of immunology here, as well as the seasoned immunologist, will find it an adventure and a joy to read".