Customer Reviews

Foundations of Cellular Neurophysiology (Bradford Books)

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

 

 

This book is chock full of equations concerning the Hodgkin-Huxley Model, Kinetics of Ionic Channels, Presynaptic & Postsynaptic Transmission, LTP, LTD, quantum vesicular release and reuptake, & a "scant" neural net theory. There are a plethora of 'end of chapter' problems with derivations & applications to solve. The book is going to be confusing and tedious, even for computationally trained neuroscientists. For me, this book is a reference only. The format is similar to Thomas Weiss' Cellular Biophysics 2 Volume Set. There is too much on the Hodgkin-Huxley Model which is very important historically, but of less interest today than it was in the 1960s. The authors also use cable theory to model neuronal & dendritic function.

This book covers a lot of material. The quality varies from chapter to chapter. Figures are sprinkled here and there with very little explanation of what they mean. Additionally, there is not much consistency between figures. This book might be serve as a good companion to a course, but it's virtually useless for self study.

My background is engineering and neuroscience, but I still found the math to be poorly explained. If you're trying to learn about biophysics and cellular neurophysiology, pick another book. If you're unfortunate enough to have this book assigned to you for a class, make sure you attend the lectures.

The index is also terrible and virtually useless for anything that I've tried to look up. The only good thing about the book is that it references a lot of stuff, so you know where to look.

One star is for the breadth of topics covered and one is for the references. The Matisse drawing on the cover is also a nice touch.

You don't really have to hold a degree in mathematics or physics to understand cellular biophysics quantitavely; at least not with this book.

Clearly written, concise, self-contained, begins with the very basic knowledge of ion transport through semi-permeable membranes, moves to electrical properties of membranes, and then to passive and active properties of neuronal membranes, all in a very didactic and intuitive approach.

Of special interest are the chapters on stochastic analysis and formulation of single channel function, and on the relationship between calcium dynamics and transmitter release.

This text is essential for students interested in pursuing graduate studies in electrophysiology, cellular neuroscience, and in computational neuroscience.

The book cover boasts that this is the only book with through discussions in mathematical equations, etc. Indeed! Except that there are other mathematically oriented books with kindly worked out examples. Some concepts, such as deriviation of the cable equation, were wonderfully presented. However, no attempt is made to obtain the solution. To think about it, that might have been an appropriate choice, for a physiologist does not have to know all the mathematics. However, the Rall model (Sec. 3.5) should have been approached in analogy with impedance matching. A unique feature of this book was somewhat detailed discussion of the Stochastic nature of ion channels. This is a good book, I believe. Overall, mathematics is thorough and abstract concepts are well chewed over.

This was the assigned text for a short section on electrophysiology in my first year graduate neuroscience course. I did not have a math or electronics background, but had worked in a neurophys lab for two years. I managed to learn stuff from this book, but it was hard work and I couldn't have done it without my lecturer and classmates. It's obvious that the authors really know their stuff, but being able to explain it to novices is another thing... And I agree with the other reviewer who noted that the index is *completely* useless, almost random lists of page numbers after topics...
Unless you have to buy this book for a class, skip it (and if it is the text for a course, ask your instructor why!!)- buy Molecular and Cellular Physiology of Neurons by Fain instead, it doesn't cover as many topics, but breadth is no use if you can't understand the content. My department switched to the Fain text last year because so many people complained about Johnston et al.

Haven't read much of the book. It was required for class. Useful to learn certain processes so far.