Development of the Nervous System, 2nd Edition [Hardcover]

Dan H. Sanes (Author), Thomas A. Reh (Author), William A. Harris (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0126186219 | ISBN-13: 978-0126186215 | Publication Date: June 10, 2005 | Edition: 2nd

Development of the Nervous System presents a broad treatment of the basic principles of neural development as exemplified by key experiments and observations from past and recent times.
The text is organized ontogenically, beginning from the induction of the neural primordium and leading to the emergence of behavior. It covers all the major topics that would form the basis of a comprehensive undergraduate curriculum along the way including the patterning and growth of the nervous system, neuronal determination, axonal navigation and targeting, neuron survival and death, synapse formation and plasticity.
The new text reflects the complete modernization of the field that has been achieved through the use of model organisms, the intensive application of molecular and genetic approaches, and the introduction of new imaging technologies.
Development of the Nervous System is richly illustrated with color photographs and original drawings. These illustrations, combined with clear, concise writing make this a book that is well suited to students approaching this intriguing field for the first time.

* Updates information including all the new developments made in the field since the first edition
* Now in full color throughout, with the original, artist-rendered drawings from the first edition completely redone, revised, colorized, and updated
* Includes a CD-ROM with all of the images from the book

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The images are vastly superior to the first edition and the CD with images is a big help for lectures.... for now it might be reasonable to call it the best text available for Developmental Neurobiology."
Stuart Tobet, Department of Biolomedical Sciences, Colorado State University

"This second edition of Development of the Nervous System is very impressive and a great improvement on the first edition which I have used for the last 4 years in my course. The authors should be very proud of such a fine product."
--Ford F. Ebner, Professor of Psychology and Cell and Developmental Biology, Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, USA

Praise for the First Edition:
"...a truly excellent text that will serve to excite new students in neuroscience and development for years to come...[The authors] imbue their text with enthusiasm, which combined with a scholarly and methodical review of the history of developmental neurology, generates a shockingly easy to read and interesting text."
--TRENDS IN NEUROSCIENCES (May 2001)

"Clearly and accurately written, beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully organized, this book covers everything from neural induction to the ontogeny of behavior in a style that is easily accessible to students."
--RONALD W. OPPENHEIM, Ph.D., Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Wake Forest University, Bowman Gray Medical School

"The book provides a scholarly review of the past and a carefully pruned view of the present. With relief, I can add that it is written in a clear, accessible style that students will appreciate."
--Sally Temple, NATURE NEUROSCIENCE

"I certainly intend to make this book required reading for our own graduate course in Developmental Neuroscience."
--JOHN L. BIXBY, Neuroscience Program, University of Miami, School of Medicine

Book Description

A completely revised edition of the preeminent textbook for courses in Developmental Neuroscience.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 2nd edition (June 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0126186219
• ISBN-13: 978-0126186215
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent content, but needs editing and is slightly confusing, February 1, 2003

By 

Suzanne Nguyen (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Development of the Nervous System (Hardcover)

"Development of the Nervous System" is a textbook which appears to be an introductory text to the field. The textbook is supposed to be appropriate for undergraduates, however, as a biology graduate student with some previous exposure to neurobiology, I had some difficulties with the text because of some of the reasons mentioned below.

It was difficult not to be distracted by the numerous grammatical and spelling errors. There were so many of them (for example, 'roll' when the authors meant 'role' and 'spacial' instead of 'spatial'), I wondered if the text were ever edited.

Even without the mistakes in English, the textbook suffers from other flaws. One major problem is that the authors do not bother to explain basic terms or concepts before using them when describing experiments. For example, the authors never define the difference between 'afferent' and 'efferent' neuronal projections, but refer to the terms profusely. Ironically, one of the most common grammatical errors in the textbook was the use of 'effect' when the authors meant 'affect.'

A colleague of mine who borrowed the book from me remarked that the index was not very useful; I also noticed some mistakes in the index.

Having said that, one of the major strengths of the text is the organization of the chapters, which proceed logically from the earliest neural induction events to the behavior of a whole organism. The introductory paragraphs of each chapter are also well written; they relate the topics to something that should be tangible to everyone.

Another major strength is the introduction of concepts by discussing the experiments behind them. Importantly, the text describes experiments from many different model organisms and using a variety of techniques. Abundant figures accompany the text and sufficiently illustrate concepts and experiments.

The content of the textbook is decent, but to be more useful (especially as an introductory text), this textbook would benefit from:
1) editing for English
2) an improved, more thorough and accurate index
3) a glossary or definitions and explanations within the text
4) and perhaps side "boxes" explaining some of the experimental techniques discussed.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Second edition, September 4, 2006

By 

Thomas A. Reh (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Development of the Nervous System, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

As an author of this book I appreciate Suzanne Nguyen's review of the first edition from February, 2003. When preparing the second edition, we took her suggestions into account. I think she would find that if she took a look at the second edition (the one that is now sold here), she would find that most of her previous criticisms have been addressed. We still did not provide a glossary, but we felt this was not necessary for an advanced text like this one. However, as we make plans for a third edition, it would be useful for us to hear from additional readers so that we can produce the best text possible.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars rich and detailed with beautiful illustrations, November 15, 2006

By 

Paul King (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Development of the Nervous System, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

I purchased the second edition of this book and am thrilled with it.

The illustrations are some of the most beautiful and helpful that I have seen in any neuroscience textbook. The descriptions are clear, the mechanisms are systematically laid out, and research anecdotes are sprinkled throughout.

What is great about the developmental perspective is it helps you understand at an intuitive level that the brain is not a set of compartmentalized "brain areas" wired together like a digital computer. Instead, the brain is a complex 3-dimensional organ with a continuous structure that is the result of cell proliferation, tissue folding, and self-wiring.

The research anecdotes are helpful because they give you a sense for how dynamic and new developmental neuroscience is as a field, and they show just how indirect the methods often need to be to uncover the processes of cellular differentiation and axonal wiring.

This book, especially with the illustrations and attached CDROM, truly seems to be a labor of love.