[.ca] The Brain: A Neuroscience Primer (ISBN 0716732262)

You'll Use Your Brain Reading This Book:
Author Thompson calls this book a neuroscience primer. Well, it does assume that you know nothing about the nervous system, but it certainly goes beyond what most people consider a primer to be. Actually this is a wonderful book for the interested, intelligent layman who wants to learn more than a superficial introduction to the subject. It's a thick book of 500 pages, and you will want to take your time with it. You'll be reading and rereading many passages in order to fully comprehend what you've read. Skim through it and you'll finish with very little of it stuck in your long-term memory. Doctor Thompson, a Neuropsychologist, is a patient teacher. For the most part he proceeds slowly, never leaping over one step in order to get to the next. The first 200 pages are on the structure and physiology of nerves. Extensive coverage is given to the function of neurotransmitters, and to what happens when they go wrong. The rest of the book is about the brain itself, and includes a discussion of sensory and motor control systems; the life cycle of the brain; learning and memory; and an introduction to cognitive neuroscience. Each chapter provides an end summary of the material covered. In the latter half of the book I did feel confused at times. The brain has so many parts and areas of specialization that I had some difficulty keeping things straight. If you are fascinated by the brain, and are willing to read an extensive yet accessible treatise on the subject this may be the book for you.