Product Description

Yale Univ., New Haven, CT. Incorporates the results of the mouse and human genome project for the first time. New advances covered include 2-photon confocal laser microscopy of dendrites and dentritic spines, biochemical analyses, and dual patch and multielectrode recordings. Softcover, hardcover also available.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94882 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 736 pages

Review

From reviews of previous editions:
"This is...a reference textbook that has served generations of neuroscientists at all levels of their career for a quarter century. It is like a wise and trusted mentor, who is always there for you...The marvel of the book in all editions is how much information is packed into such a small number of pages, yet it is comprehensible...any college or university instructor who teaches neurobiology ought to read this book, for it provides a depth of knowledge and perspective that cannot be gained from a (bad) strategy of knowing the course textbook cold and staying a few chapters ahead of one's students."--Contemporary Psychology
"The book remains a staple, and should be on the shelf of any serious neuroscientist."--The Quarterly Review of Biology
"By any measure this work is a classic...It will undoubtedly take its place as one of the most significant and comprehensive commentaries of our time on structure and function of nervous tissue."--Electrocephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology
"This well-organized volume clearly summarizes knowledge of neuronal interaction in several brain regions and assimilates new findings to the classical view of neuron communication."--Journal of the American Medical Association

About the Author
Gordon M. Shepherd is at Yale University School of Medicine.

Customer Reviews

Essential reading for serious neuroscientists
This book is arguably the most fundamental and important book in the entire field of neuroscience. It's not easy reading; an unbelievable amount of information is packed into its 500-odd pages. It's also definitely NOT suitable for newcomers to the field; for them I recommend "Principles of Neural Science", Shepherd's "Neurobiology" and Johnston and Wu's "Foundations of Cellular Neurophysiology". But once you know something about the brain, you'll want to read this book very carefully to really understand the current state-of-the-art of our understanding of neural circuits. Most major brain systems are covered, and the authors are all recognized experts in their fields. People who build computer simulations of the brain (like me) will find this book to be a gold mine of useful information, and the references are a great starting point for further investigations. This is the fourth edition of this text, and it just keeps getting better and better.

A classic work now in its 5th edition
I became acquainted with this book when I read the first edition, way back in the late 70s when I was a neuroscience grad student. I remember how impressed I was that here, for the first time really, different areas of the brain could be analyzed and compared by how the neurons wired up with each other. Later in life as a young neurologist I read through the 3rd edition, and now as a more seasoned one I've just finished reading the fifth. The book has maintained its basic organizational structure while greatly expanding its content, sometimes to the detriment of clarity being lost in the details, which is why I took off a star. The first two chapters are very helpful, with one of the best discussions of different ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors in the context of neural cell physiology I've seen. In subsequent chapters the basic circuitry of the spinal cord, cochlear nucleus, olfactory bulb, retina, cerebellum, thalamus, basal ganglia, olfactory cortex, hippocampus and cerebral cortex are discussed in similar fashion. First the neuronal elements--cell types--are defined, then the basic anatomy of the area, then the synaptic connections between different types of neurons, then the anatomy of the circuitry, then the physiology of the synaptic actions. Finally an attempt is made to relate all of these basics to how the brain area functions for the organism.
As others have pointed out, the book requires concentration to read, even to somebody with my long background. But it is rewarding to see how far the field has come in the nearly 30 years I've been studying it. It's only marginally clinically relevant for a neurologist, but for basic neuroscientists I'd consider it a must read.

Marvelous book for the brain aficionado ...
This is an excellent book: clear, well-organized, and well-written. It examines how groups of neurons give rise to brain functions. The introductory chapter lays the groundwork, going over basic theories of how groups of cells perform computations and what mechanisms they use to do it. Subsequent chapters stand alone, each with a focus on a particular brain region (hippocampus, basal ganglia, cortex, thalamus, retina, etc.).

I agree with an earlier reviewer: this book is not for the uninitiated, although it is spectacularly helpful for theoretical neuroscientists who are modeling cell assemblies as well as experimentalists working at the cell or systems level. However, I disagree with his list of good introductory books. "Principles of Neural Science" in particular is a good reference but not terribly readable. I would recommend Nicholls' "From Neuron to Brain" as a more accessible book about brain function. The Scientific American series, including "The Scientific American Book of the Brain," is quite good factually and provides a more general overview including some psychology, but the quality of the writing varies. Finally, for kicks, a newcomer should try the enjoyable, controversial "How the Mind Works" by Stephen Pinker. He is biased and arrogant, but also clever and entertaining.