Customer Reviews

Fundamental Neuroscience, Second Edition

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This textbook is a very detailed and very up-to-date exposition of Neuroscience, and in my view, for the more advanced student it is one of the best books out there. What it is NOT is a simple, concise introduction for people who are studying the nervous system for the first time. If you are taking an entry-level Neuroscience course you are likely to be overwhelmed by the amount of detail, and, like some of the other reviewers who gave this book a bad rap, might blame the book for the fact that you can only take in so much detail in a first sitting, and fail to see the forest for all the trees. So if you are new to Neuroscience, read something like Bear et al "Neuroscience - Exploring the Brain" first, and only once you have absorbed that, turn to this beautifully detailed book for a much closer look at the subject. The chapters on Vision by Clay Reid and the Hearing chapters by Brown in this book are quite simply and without a doubt among the best textbook chapters on these topics anywhere, (and much better than anything you will find in Kandel!)

I was rather lucky to take my chances and go-for-a-buy for this title instead of the much more cited "Kandel-Fourth Edition"... The book is really awesome, well-written and edited, with many good first-time-seen illustrations. It spans the whole field of contemporary Neuroscience (from biochemical to cognitive and clinical) with extreme efficacy and reference. The authors did a great job integrating the contents of each section with clarifying examples and extensive references, making it ideal even for new-comers. As a medical student with research interests in this vast field, I was very pleased with my decision to buy this textbook.

To me as bibliophiliac and a cognitive psychologist interested in neurobiology, this is the textbook of choice and an object of desire. It is very up-to-date and well-written. Although some people have detected some lack of coherence in this work, I find it refreshing that the sections recognizably come from different research teams with somewhat different points of emphasis, but without anyone pushing his own scientific interests on the expense of those of the readers. This also guarantees that it is not only an accumulation of facts but has also interesting theoretical discussions by leading researchers. It is optimal for readers having at least some laypeople knowledge about biology, medicine, or neuroscience, and just want to know more (possibly everything), or who require a thorough and citable review of a certain topic. Readers completely new to the field may find it difficult to pick out the information suited for a beginner level - a less voluminous book would be more helpful for them. I would rather not recommend it for undergraduates courses. I would also prefer a somewhat stronger emphasis on cognitive neuroscience - after all, a few hundred pages more would do no harm...!

I'm a clinical academic neurologist with an MS in neuroscience some 25 years ago, and I decided to read through this text as a means of bringing myself up-to-date in the field. This textbook accomplished that task admirably. I will agree with some critics that parts of it were far too detailed, especially the sections on molecular neurobiology, where too often things got bogged down with discussions of a protein's biophysical properties, for example. Another caveat is that there are some production defects--the pages around 200 are not in the right order, and I found a few diagrams that were mislabelled. But the illustrations are really gorgeous. I've made extensive use of the CD, which contains all the figures and their legends, for Power Point presentations to the neurology residents I teach. I would suggest that future editions of the CD incorporate some videos and animated diagrams that could better illustrate some concepts, e.g., details of signal transduction, which is REALLY complex and was hard to follow in the text. But Kandels text is now several years older and as the pace of neuroscience is so incredibly rapid, this text contains more of the latest info.

This book is a veritable tour de force from leading researchers in the area of neuroscience. It is comprehensive in scope going from modern molecular and cellular neuroscience to cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. Includes strong sections on developmental neuroscience, sensory and motor neuroscience, and regulatory systems. The book is extremely well and attractively produced; the graphics are superb. Exceptional value for money. It has been written by leading scholars involved in teaching neuroscience at the graduate level (although it may be suited to advanced undergraduates and academic medical students). Definitely the leading book in the area; required reading for professional neuroscientists and academic clinicians.

I am an academic neuroscientist who teaches neurosciences at our university. I think this new edition is leaner but provides even more information than the previous edition of Fundamental Neuroscience. I plan to use it in one of my upcoming classes. The figures are very helpful, are clear and wonderfully drawn. The new reference section at the end of each chapter helps keep the book very much up-to-date. Overall, I recommend it highly.

This CD comprises all the superb art from the Book. The art is in "jpeg" (*.jpg) format and can be "cut and pasted" into electronic slides. The book it comes from is a tour de force from leading researchers in the area of neuroscience. It is comprehensive in scope going from modern molecular and cellular neuroscience to cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. Includes strong sections on developmental neuroscience, sensory and motor neuroscience, and regulatory systems. Exceptional value for money. Suitable for teaching neuroscience at the graduate level (although it may also be suited for teaching advanced undergraduates and academic medical students and for presentations at professional symposia).

The book has been used extensively and is our most important book on neurosciences for our 3 year Msc(Neuroscience) University Sains Malaysia course as well as our Phd programme.The phase one Advanced Master of Medicine(Neurology) and Master of Surgery(Neurosurgery) uses it as well.The latest edition is concised and translational enough for those from chemistry,biology,physics backgrounds to understand fundamental neuroscience issues.

This is a good graduate level sourcebook but not so great as a textbook. It's quite comprehensive, covering topics from cable theory, the major sensory systems, developmental, to cognitive topics like reward and motivation. The material is as up to date as you could expect for a text of this scope and size. Even better the material hews fairly closely to the primary literature with less condensing that might be expected for a textbook.

That last feature, however, is part of the biggest drawback to this textbook as a teaching text. Also lacking is a good organizational consistency and pedagological system. For example, a fairly detailed chapter on mathematical modeling of current propagation and kinetics comes before the chapter on membrane and action potentials. The clarity of individual chapters can be uneven as well. Some chapters are quite clear and well organized, others are a too confusing and not well structured. The language can be dense and needlessly meandering.

This is not a good undergraduate level textbook; it's too easy for students to get lost and overwhelmed. It's much better for graduate students and post-docs. Or a general source book for professors.

Zigmond et al. is very up-to-date text, incorporating many discoveries from the last couple years. Unfortunately, many of these experiments are yet to be replicated. Additionally, I feel the book, with its numerous authors, lacks coherence