Customer Reviews

Development of the Nervous System

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"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.

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.

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.

Despite our limited understanding of nervous system development, the amount we do know is vast and in need of systematic sorting to promote rather than impede further progress. This book is a positive step in this regard.

As the title gives away, the book is about the details of nervous system development. It does a good job introducing and explaining the various phases and issues involved in nervous system development. The book serves as a coherent and well sorted summary of the vast body of literature on the subject. Notably, It exhibits expressive and very helpful figures. The figures are provided on an accompanying CD. This is especially useful for preparing presentations.

The book is organized in ten chapters that more or less follow the prenatal and early postnatal embryonic development from preliminary neural induction to the onset of behavior. Use the "look inside" feature for the detailed contents.

Some of the questions explored are: How are neural progenitors first induced in a tissue that would otherwise produce epidermal (skin) cells? How is the early neural tissue segmented in regions each with a unique identity? How do axons grow? How do they move and how do they find their way? How do axons find the right targets among numerous seemingly similar possibilities? Why does the development process include the death of up to 50% of neural cells generated so far? How do they die and what factors trigger them to disassemble themselves? How are synapses formed? How does electrical activity modify and tune neural circuitry? How does development affect behavior?

A major hurdle to many non biologists when studying Nervous System development is molecular cell biology/biochemistry. Certainly, studying development is mostly studying the effects of certain molecules and molecular pathways. This book manages to steer away from the hairy details of molecular interactions without any considerable sacrifice to depth of coverage. Usually, whenever a molecular biology related concept or technique is needed it is briefly introduced before hand. For example: when the TUNEL technique of labeling fragmented DNA was required in the discussion of cell death it was briefly introduced. For those things that are not introduced, the first paragraph in wikipedia was usually sufficient to get a feeling for the discussion. Of course, it would have been highly appreciated if there had been a glossary of some sort but until the second edition (reviewed here), none exists.

On the negative side, the end of chapter summary is not really a summary but rather some implications and speculative comments on what has been discussed. Considering the amount introduced in each chapter, a coherent summary is a missing necessity. A brief outline at the beginning would help keep the structure of the discussion in focus. Shifting discussion focus between different models is at times confusing. Finally, a glossary of terms and perhaps an appendix about experimental techniques would make the book all the more valuable.

BOTTOM LINE: This is an excellent text for researchers and students interested into how the nervous system is constructed. Experts will find it a welcome condensation of over a 100 years of research. Any one involved in research in brain development can't miss this book. Neuroscientists in general will find understanding of brain development highly rewarding for whatever problem they may be working on. A reader with only basic knowledge of biochemistry can appreciate most the content of the book. I don't recommend this book for the general reader.

I REALLY, REALLY like this book. I am a 2nd year Neuroscience graduate student taking a Developmental Neurobiology course. Our lectures are great at giving details, but this book is awesome for giving a broader picture about development of the nervous system...which is so necessary because experiments are done in so many different types of model animals and at different stages....it's SO nice to have all broad principles put together in a cohesive story. It basically saved me. Totally worth the money. Thank you, thank you for writing this book!!!! :)

The authors give an up-to-date presentation while presenting a broader context for the subject. The writing is clear and the illustrations are very helpful. This book does require background in neuroscience, however. It is not suitable for someone from another field (eg, developmental psychology) who wants an introduction to the topic.

You can't begin your studies of the nervous system by starting from the top and then going down. You really have to study it from the bottom up (if you actually want to understand). How does the CNS arise from a single cell-layer thick unspecified neuroepithelium to become the infinitely complex mass of protoplasm that allows you to read these words? This book will help you understand that (maybe not the part about HOW you actually read but how the architecture of the NS is conducive to that). From neural induction to neural precursors to cortical layering and creation of different brain structures (cerebellum to hippocampus), axon pathfinding - this book details everything in terms of genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, and anatomy. Practically all animal models are discussed (flies to c elegans to mammals). The figures (though I did find a few errors in them - I'm forgiving) and primary literature give you a look at the grand scheme of things. You'll never think about your brain in the same way.

This is the first time I ever liked a text book and in terms of neuroscience (and biology), I've read a bunch. This text is definitely for people with some biology and neurobiology/science background. I randomly came across it while I was preparing a lecture on neurogenesis and axon guidance. Turns out, I had met the 1st author when he came to my school to present a seminar a little over a year ago. Will definitely be getting the 3rd edition whenever that comes out....

This is an upper division text. The detail is clearly described and it even has well drawn out charts. If you are studying neuroscience or just interested in leaning about the embryonic development of the brain this is a good book.

This book makes it simple to read, so it doesn't take as long to get through chapters as other textbooks. It doesn't leave any details out, either, so it's really the best of both worlds.

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