Customer Reviews

Netter's Atlas of Human Neuroscience, 1e (Netter Basic Science)

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This is a very useful atlas. Like most Netter illustrations, the pictures are beautiful. The index is much too sparse, which means that you sometimes have to spend time flipping through the book to find a diagram that you know is in there somewhere. This isn't quite as bad as it could be since the book is divided into sections which make it a little easier to track things down, but it can be frustrating at times. If you're REALLY serious about learning neuroanatomy, I recommend this as an adjunct to Duaine Haines' atlas of neuroanatomy. They complement one another well. The Haines' atlas lacks color and shows most things in slices, but it has real photos in it and MRI images as well, while the Netter atlas doesn't show as many structures as Haines' atlas does. The brainstem nuclei, for example, are much better represented in the Haines' atlas. However, what the Netter's atlas does show, it shows in a manner more conducive to conveying the three-dimensional anatomy.

I'm a doctoral student in Psychiatric Rehabilitation, a field which focuses on functional rehabilitation for people with serious mental illnesses. I purchased this book to help me make sense of the relevant research in neuroscience and psychopharmacology, for which it has proven extremely valuable. I highly recommend this book for anyone trying to get an initial handle on neuroanatomy.

Although I have no substantial formal education in biology or medicine, I have had a keen interest in human neuroscience for the past fifteen years or so. During that time, I have read perhaps thirty books, ranging from books intended for a wide audience to textbooks used in medical schools. Probably the greatest difficulty for me has been remembering the anatomy. I would find, for example, a reference to the cingulate cortex, which had been defined earlier in a book, and I would have to look up the name in the index, go to the page where it was defined, and then resume my reading. Frequently, there would be references to several structures, which had been defined independently, and without reference to one another.

This book brings it all together. The drawings are excellent, showing locations, relationships, and shapes far better than any photograph, magnetic resonance image, etc., could, in large part because of the use of color. There are twenty pages of horizontal and coronal sections of the brain in which both black-and-white magnetic resonance images and drawings are shown.

In addition to the anatomic content at a gross level, this book covers the anatomy of neurons and synapses and the process of neurotransmission very well.

The detail of the text and the drawings means that this is probably not a good choice as an introduction to neuroscience, but I'm definitely going to have it by my side for all my future reading about the subject.

Most of Netter's original paintings which appear in this book are already found in Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy. Many of the painting in this book were not drawn by Netter and can be less comprehensive. For example, the sub-thalamic nucleus appears only in one schematic painting, and does not appear in-situ. The same goes for the lateral lemniscus. This makes other books mandatory for the study of neuroanatomy. Another drawback is the organization of the book. It's not rationally organized, which makes it difficult to find the right plate. For example, there's a plate of the brain stem and cerebellum. A mid-sagittal section and a posterior view of the same area appear only 9 plates afterwards. Between them there's the spinal cord, the cerebellum, the flow of CSF and more... The bottom line is that you can find more useful and organized books to learn from.

Great pictures, great review. This will help you learn the material. On the other hand, it does not take into account the variant terminology that some anatomists employ, and can therefore leave you a little confused at times.