[Allergies] should appeal to a large group of people who share some manifestations of allergic disease. As a practicing allergist, I will be recommending this book to many of my patients as it clearly presents the fundamental information that allergic people would like to know. The authors carefully avoid emphasizing one particular philosophy of diagnosis and treatment. The basic presentation of the main immune mechanisms is written in a manner that is understandable to an unsophisticated readership…. I am particularly pleased that the Silversteins emphasize the tremendous amount of research and the day-to-day changes that are expanding our knowledge of allergy, indicating the areas in which there is debate and in which research information is most rapidly changing. The book should remain useful for some time even though certain concepts presented are already outdated. My only criticism is the inadequate list of sources of further reading.

[The Genetics Explosion is an] excellent all-purpose introduction to the new genetics, with due attention to foundations…. [The] Silversteins' explanations are thorough-going and clear, and they consistently relate the earlier material to the topics they take up later. Like [Howard and Margery Facklam's From Cell to Clone: The Story of Genetic Engineering and Sylvia L. Engdahl's Tool for Tomorrow: New Knowledge about Genes] …, the Silversteins are optimistic about the effects of "genetic engineering."… But the Silversteins' treatment is far more intelligent and better grounded than either, and their conclusion both more open and more considered. They are to be commended too for avoiding overemphasis on such sensational topics as cloning. (If their last page or so indulges in some wild speculation, perhaps we can consider that a reminder that the book is far from closed on genetic engineering.) Finally, the functional diagrams are helpful in keeping the concepts straight….