Customer Reviews

The Neurobiology of Addiction (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences)

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I ordered this book thinking it was a brand new textbook on the topic of the neurobiology of addiction, based on the description provided by Amazon. Also, I was aware that there is another an excellent book with the same title which I currently own written by by Drs. George F. Koob and Michel Le Moal. However, this book by Robbins, Everitt and Nutt is actually compilation of review articles that appeared in an October 2008 issue of the journal "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B, Biological Sciences". This special issue of the journal contained the proceedings of a Royal Society Discussion meeting held on Feb. 25-26, 2008. This book is merely a hardbound compilation of the review articles that appeared in that issue of the journal. Many academic institutions may have free on-line access to this journal and thus the contents of this book. Those that don't can either purchase this book or the single issue of the journal via the journal's website (not sure of the cost, but likely less than the $82 I paid for this one). In addition, the cover of the book is not what is currently depicted. It is not a picture of a vast library with NIDA director Dr. Nora Volkow's name in the middle. It is a simple picture of a pair of hands, one holding a poker chip and the other a cigar, both resting on a table near a drink of alcohol and 5 playing cards (a royal straight flush, in fact). A faint grayscale diagram in the brain underlies the title of the book. Certainly this book contains informative reviews from highly regarded and established addiction researchers. However, I was disappointed that it was merely a compendium of review articles that I had previously had access to via my institutions subscription to the on-line version of the journal.