Customer Reviews

Biopsychology with "Beyond the Brain and Behavior" CD-ROM (5th Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While I agree with other reviewers that the text is good and the graphics in the text are outstanding, the CD that accompanies the book is a shocking waste of time.

Pinel has videotaped himself awkwardly addressing his imagined readers and foists these segments on the user at odd points throughout the CD. Each chapter contains a set of flash cards, a single multiple choice quiz, and a list of supplemental readings. The flash cards are of some use, the quiz doesn't provide correct answers for missed questions and yields only a superficial evaluation of the student's performance, and the list of readings is short (three or four citations) and without Web links.

One has the impression that the CD was included because it's de rigueur for college texts in the $100+ price category these days. Neither Pinel nor his editor seems to have any idea what content would actually be useful on a CD, e.g., a variety of quiz types, pre- and post-tests with specific reading remediations in the text for missed questions, animations of text content (rather than silly visual-space-ship-tracking exercises), Web links to supplemental material, and so on.

Ha, ha!! I have to put in my 2 cents after reading the review by Sergiu P Codreanu. The section on sleep was one of the ones that was not assigned in my biopsych class, and for good reason. All the information Pinel uses is from the 1970s, and is not all research. Some of it is just reporting of anecdote. I was so amazed after I read Pinel's comments that I contacted a student working on a PhD in circadian rhythms, who said that the cited material was all either urban myths or discredited research. So, some parts of the book are not only worthless, they're counterfactual!! Just what you want in a textbook!! (Oh, by the way, did you know that heroin addicts are all just whiners because withdrawal isn't any worse than a case of the flu? Yeah, that's right, you can experiment with drugs because the side effects are all over-blown.)

As to the rest, the fact that Pinel constantly delves into the details of single research papers leaves the impression that the book is speculative rather than conclusive. It also made it, for me, hard to follow the material. I like to skim first to get an overview of the reading, but you can never tell with Pinel what's going to be an important discussion and what's not.

I hated this book and learned far more about biopsych after reading "Animals in Translation" the summer after the course was over. I only give 2 stars because the graphics are good. Someone needs to steal Pinel's graphics and put them in a decent, accurate textbook.

Oh, and one more thing: the 5th edition is almost exactly the same as the 6th edition. My instructor really tried to twist my arm saying she didn't want me to miss out on any updated info in the new edition. So, after getting my used 5th edition, I went through the book chapter by chapter and section by section. The books are the same, with the exception of 2 page numbers!! What a scam!

Pinel's Biopsychology is a masterful work. I can only imagine the immense amount of time and effort that has gone into it. I don't think you can find another book in this field that appeals to such a wide range of readers. I have used this book and previous editions of it as the primary text in the graduate Biopsychology courses I have taught over the past 8 years. This book has consistently earned accolades from my students for presenting what is an otherwise complicated and highly technical subject, in a graspable and witty manner.

I have degrees in neurophysiology, molecular biology, and bioorganic chemistry. I really dislike psych texts; in fact, I really dislike psych. What a bunch of fluff BS. This book accomplishes something rare. It effectively frames discussions of psych topics in terms of their hard science antecedents. Pinel makes it seem as though the field of psych actually lives in reality, or at least has a summer home here. Pinel also tells the story, in segments throughout the book, of a traumatic and relevant experience, making the book read more like an engrossing biography than a text. He always relates his personal experinces, but not so much as to distract from the material itself. Extremely well done. One of the only books I had to buy that I actually wanted to keep.