An Imagined World is a drama of scientific discovery, with all its pitfalls, frustrations, tedium, cliff-hangers, and eventual breakthroughs. Goodfield accompanied for five years the team of Anna Brito, a young immunologist striving to solve the riddles posed by certain cancers and the immune system's response to them. Her narrative of their quest traces the close collaboration of the six ardently committed women and men working with Brito to confirm and develop her ideas. As the pieces of the research and the theory fall into place, her thoughts and feelings about her role in science come together in a complex and revealing pattern. An Imagined World succeeds in communicating to the reader the wonders of creativity in process. The author uncovers for us, through the acute observation of the daily life of the scientist, the basic humanity of science. Goodfield's compelling account, with its broad humanistic approach, continues to appeal not only to scientists and those involved in the field of science, but also to those involved in women's studies, anthropology, and sociology.
