Tending Adam's Garden : Evolving the Cognitive Immune Self

Book Description

Tending Adam's Garden describes and explains the way in which our immune system works from a novel perspective. The book uses metaphors and examples to bring the immune system to life and explores the fundamental miracle of nature. Written in plain language for a broad audience, this book encompasses much more than just immunology, exploring more fundamental matters such as causality, information, energy, evolution, cognition and individuality, as well as the strategy of the immune system and its role in health and disease.

* Provides a unique perspective on the immune system from one of the keenest scientific and philosophical brains in the world
* Uses metaphors and case histories to explore themes in an accessible manner
* Written in plain language requiring no specialized vocabulary or specific scientific background in the subject

Customer Reviews:

It is the hands on experience that makes a difference.......2007-08-30

First, a 'proper disclosure' is in place; I should say that the author and I are not acquainted. This is quite surprising since we are both Israelis, and our fields of research are adjacent. However it is not surprising that we share a similar approach to the notion of 'meaning'. The use of meaning in Biblical Hebrew differs from meaning in Western Tradition; it is a change that an agent makes in the actual world and not just a process that takes place in the representation of the world in the agent's inner 'mind'. As the author, Henry Atlan, and others have pointed out in their scientific papers, both in my 'turf' - culture dynamics - and his - the human immune system - the question of how meaning is generated, passed on (in time) and distributed (conveyed between agents) is crucial. It is not surprising therefore, that Biblical meaning sprang to both our minds.
Another 'proper disclosure' is that even so I am biased in favor of the book, because it does save me a lot of time and work. Had professor Cohen not written the first hundred pages, containing a general description of the position of our current know-how about Complex Adaptive Systems - CAS - in the perspective of the reduction, driven by the functional approach to meaning (rather than considering meaning a property of the substance that its denotation points to, as usually is the case) I would have probably had to write something to the same effect myself.
Let me illustrate this point (summed-up on page 99) by making use of Cohen's book as an object. The fact that the book is meaningful is not just something I think, it has also grown a small 'lawn' of markers and had sojourned to the side of the Complexity Science book shelf nearest to my desk; I also occasionally find out that pieces of text in my own writings are actually conversations with it.
Another point of self organization worth noticing is its neighboring books. It seems that in the time-vicinity of an expansion in the capabilities of CAS science, there comes out a book to prepare the hearts and minds of people for it. These are the books, which tend to cluster inadvertently at the side nearer to my desk, since one tends to remember what they said and therefore returns to them for reference.
The fact that I find these books meaningful is therefore, not just a set of forms in my mind; these drive decisions that result in self organization happening in the shape of the real world (the geometry of my study, in this case) and in time, i.e. a certain pattern of narrative is realized each time CAS science is poised and ready to expand.
Although I am an expert on city/culture dynamics and a neophyte of/to the human immune system, I find the second part of the book - 150 pages - which deals with the way functional meaning establishes our understanding of the human immune system to play a greater role in my own work.
The point that this part drives home is that in the context of a Complex Adaptive System, to be useful, a model cannot possibly be applicable to too broad a spectrum of relevant phenomena. Cohen challenges in the second part a conventional wisdom of scientific tradition, which has served us well for the last couple of centuries.
Contrary to the well established 'corporate culture' of science which strives always for a model to be as concise as possible and encompass in its range of relevance as wide a chunk of nature as possible, in CAS based research, one can miss by being excessively universal, thus rendering a model of the mark by being too far removed (resolution wise) from the real world subject system.
Cohen elaborates this proposition not by discussing theory but the way a Bedouin fixes his pickup truck, i.e. by disassembling it (the 'cognitive' model of the immune system, in our case) to the level of cogs, shafts and sprocket wheels and then putting it together again.
I would like to further his course of thought by suggesting that like the rift between idea and action that exists in our mind and discussed above, the ubiquitous great-divide between theoreticians and experimentalists in the actual practice of science does not serve us well in the advancement of CAS-based research.
By going into the specifics of his 'cognitive' model, Cohen has demonstrated that a CAS scientist should not be, as our 'corporate culture' ordains: either one or the other, but work like a master luthier, who envisages the sound of the violin and then proceeds to the minute details of its construction, back and forth, adjusting both ends - the imaginary concept of the instrument's future sound and the details of its construction - as the real world violin-sound takes on a form. It is in the interplay between the general outlook and the indispensable hands-on experience that new insights appear. Therefore, although as a neophyte some of the details of the model may have been lost on me, it is still at the nuts and bolts level, that I as a scientist could look, learn and hopefully follow the example.

A fascinating proposal.......2005-08-01

In this book the author makes a seemingly radical hypothesis, namely that human immune system is in fact a cognitive system. Those who think of a cognitive system as also being one that is conscious will find the author's contention perhaps even more radical. However, the author's notion of a cognitive system is not as elaborate, and such systems are very prevalent in manufacturing and control systems, telecommunication networks, and military systems.

The book is targeted toward a wide readership, and therefore the author omits detailed scientific jargon and also omits many references. Readers (such as this reviewer) who are not experts in immunology though can still gain a lot of insight into the workings of the human immune system, and the book could be read as an introduction to this important field. In fact, a non-expert in immunology might gain much more from the book than an expert, for the former has not been biased by the "classical" clonal selection theory of the immune system, and will therefore be more open to the prospect of a different paradigm. The physicist/mathematician reader will find an interesting use by the author of chaotic dynamical systems and its notion of an attractor. The use of these concepts goes along with the author's notion of evolution and adaptation, which he describes as a radical departure from the standard view. Adaptation, in his view, is defined as an attractor, and is not correlated with improvement of the organism. Evolution does not involve the `improvement of DNA' but rather is the `creation and occupation of attractors.'

The main virtue of this book is the author's careful elucidation of the notion of a cognitive system. This is necessary in his view in order to distinguish such a system from one that might qualify as being cognitive, but one would not want to view as being cognitive. As evidence of the latter, he gives the example of the production of urine by the kidneys. Such a system he says exhibits complexity, precision, and regulation that rivals many nervous systems, but one that should not qualify as being cognitive. A cognitive system he argues is able to make decisions, is able to form images of their environments, and is able to learn from experience. This learning ability involves the updating of their internal structures and images, which the author refers to as `self-organization.' Hence `choice,' `internal images,' and `self-organization' allows the cognitive system, and therefore the organism that possesses it, to interact with the world that will give it distinct advantages over what can be obtained from evolutionary genetics.

So what is the nature of the `images' of the environment encoded by the immune system? They are merely proteins, some of which are distributed throughout the body and form geometrical shapes as well as `abstract, functional' ones. These images are also of two types, the `innate' images, which are inherited, and `acquired' images, which arise from the cognitive process. Autoimmune diseases, the author argues, involve an image dysfunction in the immune system.

A cognitive view of the immune system the author thinks is necessary because of the need for immune receptors to have the ability for specific recognition. However, they are degenerate, `pleiotropic', redundant, and random observes the author, and this means that cognition (as he defines it) is necessary in order that the immune system generate specificity out of the non-specificity of its components. The author outlines in detail how to construct immune cognition, this involving the `geometry' of cognition, the `dynamics' of cognition, and the `images' or `patterns' of cognition.

In terms of its ability to engage in cognitive decision-making, the immune system reacts to a pattern of signals that it receives by selecting a particular type of response pattern from its collection of available responses. An `immune language' that combines germ-line and somatic `chemical words' is used to make the decisions. These choices, the author emphasizes, are not the result of any `self-reflective consciousness' or `mystical free will' but in fact are deterministic. Choices in the immune system can occur because it can exercise options and because it can learn. From a chemical perspective, the decision-making in the immune system involves associating somatic perceptions of objects with classes of effector responses in the germ-line.

These views of immune system decision-making are fascinating, and will certainly invoke strong reactions from the philosophical community. Indeed, what is normally thought of as capabilities only found in a `mind,' namely that of abstraction, semantics, and context, these can also be found in the human immune system. It communicates via molecular interactions; its antigens and cytokines express semantic attributes since they can confirm ligands and their receptors and can arrange the signal molecules in patterns; and can patterns of signals can create a signal context.

The immune system can be defective, this resulting among other things in the deadly autoimmune diseases. The author discusses this unfortunate circumstance in detail in the book, but he is also willing to contemplate deliberate intervention into the workings of the immune system in order to circumvent any problems with it. In the last paragraph of the book, noting that "two cognitive systems are better than one," the author advocates the deliberate engineering of the immune system, i.e. that of turning "on or off the immune response as we see fit." Along with genetic engineering, metabolic engineering, and other endeavors of twenty-first century technology, such a prospect is awesome.

COMMENT.......2001-11-16

I have read Immune Crossover by Rewald and it was clear enough. Then Tending Adam's Garden of course attracted me. I started reading it and I stopped. I have never read any book that starts with the too wonderful words other people write about it. It kills the suspense of finding something good. Modesty is a great virtue especially in science. I don't think that someone else's opinion will change the content of the book.

Lía Barberis
Specialist in medical translations

New ideas in contemporary immunology.......2001-11-15

Once you have read a book on a subject that you find fascinating and easy to understand as is the case with "Immune Crossover . the two faces of immunity "(Enrique Rewald, 1998, Parthenon Publishing), you feel like reading more about the same. This did happen by reading "Tending Adam's Garden", Irun Cohen's outstanding book. Both have much in common. Besides a similarity in design and in some ideas, their approach appears to be complementary. They are worth having near.

Don't be afraid of your freedom.......2000-04-30

Cohen's book is the first book I've read about immunology that baldly goes where no book has gone before. Cohen does not seem to be afraid to explore the field of immunology with what used to be the holdings of other fields. He doesn't hesitate to use philosophy, computer science and physics whenever the need arises. He not only ignores the superficial boundaries between the fields we were brought up on, but he even presents immunology in a way that seems obvious, given the other sciences of the 20th century. It is evident from the book that Cohen has a clear agenda and his own theory on the structure of the immune system. What many immunologists try so much to ignore - the urgent need for a new theory replacing the 50-year-old Clonal Selection Theory, turnes in his hands from a problem to a solution. Anyone interested in seeing how science is about to change, how borders between disciplines disappear and how immunology can be the basis to learning information theory, network theory, philosophy, system design, biology, evolution, cognitive systems and much more. And do all that while getting to know one of the most ingenious systems - the immune system, should read the book.

Rethinking the Immune System.(Review): An article from: American Scientist

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Rethinking the Immune System.(Review): An article from: American Scientist

Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
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Tending Adam's Garden : Evolving the Cognitive Immune Self

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Tending Adam's Garden : Evolving the Cognitive Immune Self
Irun R. Cohen
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHY5U0

Book Description

"Hills is probably the best person I can think of to write this book. He has the deepest background combined with considerable experience in solving problems with food." -R. G. Bryant, University of Virginia.

Food scientists have many excellent tools at their disposal with which to study food at both the micro- and macrostructural levels. But, when it comes to analyzing dynamic structural changes in food during processing and storage, none can compare with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Still a very young approach, MRI food imaging has contributed greatly to recent advances in food science, and promises to yield much more valuable information in the years ahead. Written by a leading pioneer in the field, Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Food Science covers the latest in MRI food imaging theory and practice.

Written primarily for food scientists and engineers, the book offers a practical, unified approach to the subject. Material is organized in three main parts corresponding to the distances of scale probed by MRI studies-namely, the macroscopic, microscopic, and macromolecular. Throughout, the emphasis is on ways in which studies of food undergoing processes can be modeled using the equations of heat, mass, and momentum transport, and how those models can be used in process design optimization programs.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Food Science provides researchers with the most up-to-date, detailed coverage of:
* Traditional and cutting-edge MRI food imaging techniques and technologies, including STRAFI, gradient-echo imaging, and functional imaging
* Whole plant functional imaging, flow imaging and rheology, and other specialized MRI applications
* The roles of food microstructure and molecular relaxation mechanisms in controlling moisture and heat transport
* Techniques for modeling structural changes during food processing.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Food Science is an important working resource for all researchers engaged in the never-ending struggle to produce safer, higher-quality foods more efficiently.

Advances in Magnetic Resonance in Food Science (Special Publications)

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Advances in Magnetic Resonance in Food Science (Special Publications)
G. WEBB
Manufacturer: Royal Society of Chemistry
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ASIN: 0854047247

Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy, Volume 31: Special Edition Food Science (Annual Reports on Nmr Spectroscopy)

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Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy, Volume 31: Special Edition Food Science (Annual Reports on Nmr Spectroscopy)

Manufacturer: Academic Press
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ASIN: 0125053312

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Over recent years, no other technique has grown to such importance as that of NMR spectroscopy. It is used in all branches of science where precise structural determination is required and where the nature of interactions and reactions in solution is being studied. Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy has established itself as a means for the specialist and non-specialist alike to become familiar with new applications of the technique in all branches of chemistry, including biochemistry, and pharmaceutics. This volume focuses on theoretical aspects of NMR nuclear shielding and on applications of NMR to polymer science.

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Foods
Michael J. McCarthy
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 0412988119

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Magnetic Resonance in Food Science

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Presenting an up-to-date account of progress in this very important area, and documenting the latest research findings, Magnetic Resonance in Food Science covers four main areas: developments in its applications; analysis and authentication; nutrition; and the study of biopolymers and complex systems.

Comprehensive and detailed, the book is written by experts who demonstrate the importance of magnetic resonance in food science and nutrition, and the relevance of its techniques to industrial practices.

Book Description

The scope of applications of magnetic resonance to food science continues to expand. Recently, the focus has turned to the way in which the interpretation and quantification of magnetic resonance data of complex food systems increasingly requires the application of multivariate data analytical protocols.

This book provides an up-to-date, global perspective of the latest developments in the field, including methods of studying metabolic processes both in vivo and in vitro, functional MRI and the sensory perception of food.

Content is divided into five sections: sensory science; aroma and flavour; authenticity and quantification of food; functionality, structure and ingredients; applications of solid-state methods; and new NMR methods and instrumentation.

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Modern Magnetic Resonance

Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 1402038941

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Modern Magnetic Resonance provides a unique and comprehensive resource on up-to-date uses and applications of magnetic resonance techniques in the sciences, including chemistry, biological science, materials science, food science, medicine, pharmacueticals and marine science.

The widespread appeal of MMR methods for revealing information at the molecular and microscopic levels is noted and examples are provided from the chemical and other sciences.

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This informative publication presents the broad application of nuclear magnetic resonance to many of today's problem areas in agriculture. Solid-state NMR methodology is covered, with its applications to the study of intact agricultural matrices such as plant cell walls, photosynthetic chloroplast membranes, forages, wood cellulose, and soils. In vivo solution NMR methodology and its applications to the study of different functioning plant tissues and their biochemical responses to various pathological, physiological, and toxicological stresses are illustrated with examples using 31P, 13C, 23Na, and 15N resonance methods. An introductory chapter presents a review of the in vivo literature and some basic principles and requirements for carrying out such experiments. A special section focuses on state-of-the-art 13C and 1H high-resolution multidimensional methods and their application to the study of agricultural toxins; biologically active components, including their structures and biosyntheses, and dynamic measurements of relaxation phenomena associated with cross relaxation in water bound to food proteins.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies: Bibliography-Entomology, Soil Science, Non-Food and Non-Feed Agricultural Products, and Food Science: Jan. 1980-May 1991

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Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies: Bibliography-Entomology, Soil Science, Non-Food and Non-Feed Agricultural Products, and Food Science: Jan. 1980-May 1991

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Water in Foods and Biological Materials
R. Roger Ruan , and Paul L. Chen
Manufacturer: CRC
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 1566765897

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This book is the first book on nuclear magnetic resonance study of water in food and biological materials. The authors present the methodology, research, and development results of qualitative and quantitative analysis of water in foods and biological materials using NMR and MRI. This book provides the latest NMR and MRI techniques for those researchers who have an interest in relationships between water and: * chemical reactivity * microbial activity * physiochemical properties and changes * structural properties and changes in foods and biological materials In addition, the authors emphasize experimental techniques and data interpretation skills for the study of mobility of water and its role in processing and storage of foods and biological materials. Authors Ruan and Chen explain how the "state of water" concept will greatly add to the reader's understanding of the role of water in chemical, physical and microbial changes occurring in foods and biological materials. Understanding the relationships between water and chemical reactivity, microbial activity, and physiochemical and structural properties and changes in foods is an important key to effective food R&D, as well as quality control in processing and storage. This book provides advanced information on these relationships using the tools of NMR and MRI. Emphasis is placed on experimental techniques and data interpretation skills for the study of mobility of water and its role in processing and storage of foods. Many new techniques and applications are examined. More than 140 schematics, images and graphs illustrate NMR/MRI principles, techniques, applications and results.

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