Reviewer: Magdalena Muchlinski, Masters/Doctorate (MA; PhD)(Oregon Health and Science University)
Description: This book is an engaging overview of the human brain. Its focus is to provide readers with all the foundational knowledge needed to explore neuroanatomy and, in many instances, neurophysiology with greater focus. This book was written for, as stated in the preface, for students, enthusiasts, and faculty. The authors weave fascinating stories of how neurobiology has been explored within not only our species, but across mammals. In fact, the authors' use of the comparative method makes the material engaging and informative, therefore, enticing the readers to explore topics further by examining the bibliography. The images provided, although stilted, are detailed and accurate, and therefore reinforce knowledge and increase comprehension. Overall, it is a well-written textbook that is easy to follow.
Purpose: One of the main challenges an educator faces is staying up to date on an entire field of science they may not be entirely familiar with due to subfield specialization (neuroanatomy vs. neurophysiology vs. neuropharmacology). The goal of this book is to update a classic text (now in its eighth edition) and present the information in a clear and engaging fashion using our acquired and current body of knowledge on neuroscience. Easy, right? Not really, but the authors did a fairly good job. Not surprisingly, areas that we know less about (e.g., extrapyramidal neurophysiology; D1 / D2 receptor activation) are less well covered, while more ancient neuroanatomy (e.g., somatosensation) are beautifully described and meet or exceeded the proposed objectives.
Audience: This book targets students, neuro-enthusiasts, and faculty.
Features: The book was reviewed in both print and digital formats. The digital textbook is perhaps the best I have engaged with given the clear heading tabs and search function. For students and faculty, there are robust and clearly written review questions at the end of each chapter. For researchers and enthusiasts, a literature review is also provided to explore what the primary literature has to offer (although links are not provided to the primary literature reference within the body of the chapter, which is unfortunate).
Assessment: Although I do not recommend this as a neuroscience textbook for an integrated, systems-based medical school curriculum, I do recommend it to educators and undergraduate/graduate neuroscience students. The foundational knowledge is presented in a clear and straightforward fashion. Moreover, the clinical boxes will help educators focus on which clinical knowledge is high yield. This, in part, is due to the fact that the authors have decades of experience teaching in multiple medical school curricula and can provide the relevant and key points clearly. As written above, my complaints are minor (e.g., provide the reference link to the main text), but there are always ways to improve a textbook. The images provided are stylistically awkward. The micrographs are great, but the overlays leave much to be desired (e.g., red/green lines on the same micrograph). The heading and labels are great and the information is perfect, but the presentation appears stilted. Prior to reviewing this book, my go-to text for neuroscience foundational knowledge was Neuroscience, 6th edition, Purves et al. (Oxford University Press, 2017). Although I found the writing clearer in this Nolte revision, the images in Purves' book are superior as they are clearer and easier on the eyes and therefore more useful in teaching presentation. However, the chapter outlines are the best I have seen, and in fact, provide students with a handy, high-yield summary of what is to come and what may have already been learned via beautiful, clear statements.
