Summary

The first story author Eula Biss ever heard about immunity was from her physician father. He told her the tale of Achilles who was a strong warrior but had a weak heel. To prepare her for the dangers in life, her mother read Eula and her siblings bedtime stories from Grimm’s Fairytales. Eula remembered the magic more than the violence and brutality. As she matured, her mother read her tales from Greek mythology. Her father told her about a hero who was made immune to injury by being bathed in blood. A leaf that had adhered to his skin left a tiny spot unprotected which later led to his death in battle by a fatal blow to that spot. The point of this tale and that of Achilles was that no one is ever fully immune to disease. When her son was...