Book Description

Our self-conception derives mostly from our own experience. We believe ourselves to be conscious, rational, social, ethical, language-using, political agents who possess free will. Yet we know we exist in a universe that consists of mindless, meaningless, unfree, nonrational, brute physical particles. How can we resolve the conflict between these two visions?

InFreedom and Neurobiology, the philosopher John Searle discusses the possibility of free will within the context of contemporary neurobiology. He begins by explaining the relationship between human reality and the more fundamental reality as described by physics and chemistry. Then he proposes a neurobiological resolution to the problem by demonstrating how various conceptions of free will have different consequences for the neurobiology of consciousness.

In the second half of the book, Searle applies his theory of social reality to the problem of political power, explaining the role of language in the formation of our political reality. The institutional structures that organize, empower, and regulate our lives-money, property, marriage, government-consist in the assignment and collective acceptance of certain statuses to objects and people. Whether it is the president of the United States, a twenty-dollar bill, or private property, these entities perform functions as determined by their status in our institutional reality. Searle focuses on the political powers that exist within these systems of status functions and the way in which language constitutes them.

Searle argues that consciousness and rationality are crucial to our existence and that they are the result of the biological evolution of our species. He addresses the problem of free will within the context of a neurobiological conception of consciousness and rationality, and he addresses the problem of political power within the context of this analysis.

A clear and concise contribution to the free-will debate and the study of cognition,Freedom and Neurobiology is essential reading for students and scholars of the philosophy of mind.

Customer Reviews (5)

Dense, Disappointing, and Interesting
This book is a dense and yet fast read. The final chapter deserves to be read several times.

Chapter one is Searle trying to give a brief encapsulation of the themes that he has treated elsewhere. Heavy going, but surprisingly rapid reading.

In chapter two, Searle wrestles with the implications of neurobiology for "free will." He finds that he cannot decisively state whether humans have free will or not. Assuming that consciousness is a function of the physical brain, composed of neurons, glial cells, etc, he argues that either there is no free will (even though we must believe there is) and everything we do is deterministic, or else free will comes via the randomness of quantum fluctuations.

This dichotomy was so bad that I seriously entertained the thought of writing the author and demanding my money back. I finished this chapter before bed and then awoke around 0500 in an absolute panic attack because I could not readily refute Searle. I do not see randomly dictated behavior as any better than predetermined behavior. Neither one is freedom.

As I wrestled with my panic, I realized that the horror of either of Searle's two options comes from having a "Me" with intent and desire, who is then denied the ability to realize any intent or desire by fate or by random chance.

I think that the drastically self-referential, non-linear nature of the brain makes an independent sense of "Me" possible w/o invoking some mystical split between mind and brain. I do not see that it is impossible for this sense of "Me" to develop its own preferences in a way that is neither random nor predetermined.

The final chapter truly made the book worthwhile. It consists of a brief essay on political power. Searle compares deontic power and status functions with the brute power imposed by force. He finds the notion of political power completely foreign to the physicist's notions of power.

What old people write when they no longer care about readers
My hope was that this book was a good philosopher, musing seriously over a host of recent results on how the mind is constituted and works from fMRI and other neurobiology studies. Instead I got a good philosopher doing vague musings without any basis in fact, continuing 16th century metaphysical musings as he wishes, without being constrained by fact, truth, how brains work, what social psych knows about social modules, mirror neurons, consciousness bundlings, and everything else exciting in what we know now about us-ness.

One star is too much.This book is cleverly mis-named by its editors to sell. Anyone interested in the name the book now actually has will be severely, severely disappointed in the book, at any price, however cheap.This book is a waste of space and increasingly it looks like its author is something similar.

Musings on Free Will
These essays are a low-voltage rehash of ideas set out in Searle's earlier books, where his one-mind concept of consciousness is set out much more lucidly. His musings on Free Will lack focus and clarity and the author ends up without taking a clear position on a topic where his brilliant philosophical studies should have allowed him to enlighten his readers.

Superficial
You'd expect a book with this title to actually have some neurobiology in it, but you'd be disappointed. This slim volume consists of two diffuse philosophical essays, one about free will, and the other about political power. Both are simplistic, in my view, and don't bring any new ideas to the table. The essay on free will was the most interesting, but despite the book's title, the author doesn't bring in any neurobiology. Instead he basically says that neurobiology should be involved, and possibly quantum mechanical randomness, because that's the only nondeterministic mechanism he can think of that might be related to the nondeterminism of free will. That particular idea is explored much more deeply in Roger Penrose's book "The Emperor's New Mind," which despite its flaws, is a much deeper and more solid book.

Searle finally writes about man as "zoon politikon"
This book is 3 chapters: an intro chapter, a chapter on free will & neurobiology, and a chapter on political power.The book was previously just two lectures Searle gave in 2001 at Sorbonne.Eventually, Searle's editor published these two lectures in France without Searle's involvement leading Searle to end a quaint story saying, "It is the first time in my life that I published a book I did not know that I had written" (pg. 2).Searle added the intro chapter for his edition.Although the first essay on free will is meager progress on what Searle says elsewhere (see Searle's Rationality in Action (Jean Nicod Lectures)), the 2nd chapter on political power is a promising addition to what Searle has already hinted at in The Construction of Social Reality and Mind, Language, and Society : Philosophy in the Real World (he admits this fact, see pg. 33).

SEARLE ON FREE WILL & NEUROBIOLOGY
Searle puts in the title "Reflections" because he admits to not giving answers, especially to the problem of free will.Instead Searle wants to muse: "I cannot give you a solution to the problem of free will, but I hope to be at least able to state the problem in a precise enough form so that we can see what possible solutions would look like (pg. 31).
Searle is frustrated by free will and neurobiology because free will seems to be a phenomenological experience that is irreducible to epiphenomena, yet how can we be free to will when conscious states are realized in neurological states which are "completely deterministic"? (pg. 38 see all 40).But the notion of the freedom of the will does not go away, according to Searle, "if you say to the waiter `Look, I am a determinist - che sará sará, I'll just wait and see what I order,' that refusal to exercise free will is only intelligible to you as one of your actions if you take it to be an exercise of your free will" (pg. 43).
At this point Searle offers 2 hypotheses: (1) free will is an illusion and the deterministic physical laws which govern our neurons also govern consciousness i.e. epiphenomenalism; (2) "we have to suppose that the logical features of volitional consciousness of the entire system have effects on the elements on the system.This is true even though the system is composed entirely of the elements" (pg. 63).Thus, "the passage from one state to the next is explained by the rational thought processes of the initial state of neurons/consciousness.At any instant the total state of consciousness is fixed by the behavior of the neurons, but from on instant to the next the total state of the system is not causally sufficient to determine the next state.Free will, if it exists at all, is a phenomenon in time" (pg. 65).Searle's struggle to make free will somehow a feature (is "feature the right word, Searle sometimes says "realized" but we might want to ask for clarity) of neurophysiology has been on difficult grounds since at least Thomas Nagel wrote that we can know everything about a bat except what it is like to be a bat (see "What is it like to be a bat?" in Nagel's book Mortal Questions (Canto)). Searle wants "Hypothesis 2" to be correct but he concludes that it is currently "a mess" (pg. 77).

SEARLE ON DEONTIC POWER
Before this essay, Searle never had anything to say about politics (this is not completely true: see little-known book "The campus war; a sympathetic look at the university in agony).Searle says, "When I was an undergraduate, it was widely believed that political philosophy was dead" (pg. 13).However, after writing about institutional reality as collective intentionality in "The Construction of Social Reality" he decided that this chapter "Social Ontology and Political Power" would apply his linguistic account of institutional reality to the "special problem of political power" (pg. 33).
Searle begins by saying that "our tradition of political philosophy" has been "unsatisfying" because it doesn't ask the proper questions first: instead of "What is a just society" we should ask "What is a society in the first place?" (pg. 80)Searle describes a group of numbered and ordered propositions which develop through his essay; I will quote them here in truncated form (hopefully without losing meaningfulness).
(1) All political power is a matter of social functions, and for that reason all political power is deontic power (2) Because all political power is a matter of status functions, all political power, though exercised from above, comes from below (3) Even though the individual is the source of all political power, by his or her ability to engage in collective intentionality; all the same, the individual, typically, feels powerless (4) The system of political status functions works at least in part because recognized deontic powers provide desire-independent reasons for action (5) It is a consequence...that there is a distinction between political power and political leadership (6) Because political powers are matters of status functions they are, in large part, linguistically constituted (7) In order for a society to have a political reality it needs several other distinguishing features:...a distinction between the public and the private sphere with the political as part of the public sphere,...the existence of nonviolent group conflicts, and...group conflicts must be over social goods within a structure of deontology (8) A monopoly on armed violence is an essential presupposition of government.

Anyone serious about studying the extensions of Searle's thought must buy this book primarily for the brief essay on political philosophy.His essay on free will, Searle admits, is largely conceptually at an impasse. ... Read more

Book Description
The new edition of this definitive textbook reflects the continuing reintegration of psychiatry into the mainstream of biomedical science.The research tools that are transforming other branches of medicine - epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology, imaging, and medicinal chemistry - are also transforming psychiatry.The field stands poised to make dramatic advances in defining disease pathogenesis, developing diagnostic methods capable of identifying specific and valid disease entities, discovering novel and more effective treatments, and ultimately preventing psychiatric disorders.The Neurobiology of Mental Illness is written by world-renowned experts in basic neuroscience and the pathophysiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders.It begins with a succint overview of the basic neurosciences followed by and evaluation of the tools that are available for the study of mental disorders in humans.The core of the book is a series of consistently organized sections on the major psychiatric disorders that cover their diagnostic classification, molecular genetics, functional neuroanatomy, neurochemistry and pharmacology, neuroimaging, and principles of pharmacotherapy.Chapters are written in a clear style that is easily accessible to practicing psychiatrists, and yet they are detailed enough to interest researchers and academics.For this second edition, every section has been thoroughly updated, and 13 new chapters have been added in areas where significant advances have been made, including functional genomics and animal models of illness; epidemiology; cognitive neuroscience; postmortem investigation of human brain; drug discovery methods for psychiatric disorders; the neurobiology of schizophrenia; animal models of anxiety disorders; neuroimaging studies of anxiety disorders; developmental neurobiology and childhood onset of psychiatric disorders; the neurobiology of mental retardation; the interface between neurological and psychiatric disorders; the neurobiology of circadian rhythms; and the neurobiology of sleep disorders.Both as a textbook and a reference work, Neurobiology of Mental Illness represents a uniquely valuable resource for psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and their students or trainees. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great "Encyclopedia" of biological psychiatry
This is a huge book that covers every question that you may have about biological psychiatry, and even some that you haven't. As a graduate student in Neuroscience, I have found it invaluable as a theoretical reference.

The only downside is that it covers so much information, that it can be difficult to read on your own. I wish that I a class offered at my school that used this book.

Wonderful book for clinical neuroscience
This book is wonderful.It begins with a section explaining many of the basics of neuroscience, which can be used as a reference for psychologists that are not schooled in neuroscience.There are sections for each of the most highly researched psychiatric and neurological disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's disease.I used this book as a (non-required) supplement to a neuropsychology seminar.The rest of the class relied solely on the content of the journal articles they were reviewing.With the aid of this book, I stood out as the teacher's pet.The information in this text pulls together research in the field in a way that is not done elsewhere.I noticed quite a few typos, which was surprising given that it wasn't the first edition and it cost so much.The content more than makes up for it, however, and I strongly recommend this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (7)

An incredible description of the mind's functioning
As I start this review, I want to say that I'm not a mental health professional. I'd been so used to psychological texts falling into 2 distinct categories: texts written by MD's explaining how everything wrong with you involves an excess of seratonin (or some other chemical) or books written by clinicians talking essentially only about their personal clinical experiences. This book breaks (or combines maybe..?) these stereotypes in a readable, detailed, and very well-supported (~500 references) account of how experiences actually create biological malfunctions.

A brief note to other readers who might also not be mental health professionals: While this book doesn't really assume you know anything at all, it can be dense at times. However, Dr. Siegel goes out of his way to make sure that you can follow along by rehashing earlier points that might have been easily confused.

Outlining important points in italics, Dr. Siegel proceeds through the entire range of mental development. He starts out with the more basic processes involved in mental functioning (memory, attachment, emotion, states-of-minds) and shows how these systems are shaped in an infant by a responsive caregiver into forming an emotionally healthy adult. He also talks about how mental disorders can develop when these various systems are either inadequately stimulated or actively stimied.
I found the chapter on attachment particularly remarkable. As he explained the various types of attachments and how they were dependant on parental-child interactions (all backed up, of course, by various clinical data), I felt like I could make sense of some events from my own childhood.

This book should DEFINITELY be read by the hordes of biologically oriented psychiatrists out there. Its also a wonderful read for people who might want some insight into why they've always had problems making friends, controlling their emotions, or repeating the abusive behavioral patterns of their parents.

Excellect perspective...
This is a uniquely important book! Maybe those who so vividly expressed their disappointent in their reviews, misunderstood the title! The book is about DEVELOPING MIND, which means about how certain class of brain processes we call 'mind' come into being as the brain rewires itself.

Most of the literature seems to be assuming that these proceses somehow come into being and focus on deciphering their meaning and purpose assuming the 'mind' to be like a computer in the skull we are born with which is ready to use and it is suficient to switch it on.

But clearly, this less ingteresting frame, since the 'mind' never remains the same as a kind of static 'thing.'What is fascinating, is its continuous development process. The book presents very readable explanatory model.Minsky says that "brains use processes that change themselves[...] The principal activities of brains are making changes in themselves."Siegel explains how this happens and this is a fascinating narration.

An Understanding of Interpersonal Experience
Siegel writes clearly and accurately. He is passionate about the mind and it's development. This book is written at a college level which means your average reader won't be picking it up. You'll take a grand tour of brain/mind development, memory,attachment, emotion and interpersonal relationships. This is must reading for the clinician and parents who want to do it right. This book deserves 6 stars but there are only five to offer. This was a wonderful read! Kevin Hogan,...

Five Stars despite a few flaws
This book is a heavily research based volume detailing the ways in which parenting styles affect brain development, brain wiring structure with the implications for our lives and civilization. Although it's sometimes a bit redundant and disorganized in presentation, the information is potent and important and the quantity of research staggering. This is truly worth reading - for those who may prefer a less academic presentation, try it anyway. The value of this book is extraordinary.

Excellent foundation for understanding the brain.
This very well written book outlines how the brain developes and integrates what we know about the impact of life experience with the unraveling mysteries of the brain.Emotional disorders such as PTSD areinformed by Siegel's elegant discussion of how memories are created. Thisis a challenging book; each sentence is packed with important information. While the subject matter may not be familiar to the reader, Siegel presentsthis valuable information in a very accessable manner.Very Stronglyrecommended to therapists and counselors. ... Read more

Book Description
Explaining the insights of basic brain research for social workers.

Current brain research bears on all of the helping professions. This book informs clinical social workers and social work educators about new findings from research on attachment and neurobiology. Topics include brain structure and organization, brain plasticity, normal and abnormal attachment, early trauma, adolescent mothers, parental depression, child abuse and neglect, and assessment and intervention strategies. ... Read more

Book Description
Neurobiology of Addiction is conceived as a current survey and synthesis of the most important findings in our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of addiction over the past 50 years. The book includes a scholarly introduction, thorough descriptions of animal models of addiction, and separate chapters on the neurobiological mechanisms of addiction for psychostimulants, opioids, alcohol, nicotine and cannabinoids. Key information is provided about the history, sources, and pharmacokinetics and psychopathology of addiction of each drug class, as well as the behavioral and neurobiological mechanism of action for each drug class at the molecular, cellular and neurocircuitry level of analysis. A chapter on neuroimaging and drug addiction provides a synthesis of exciting new data from neuroimaging in human addictsa unique perspective unavailable from animal studies. The final chapters explore theories of addiction at the neurobiological and neuroadaptational level both from a historical and integrative perspective.

The book incorporates diverse finding with an emphasis on integration and synthesis rather than discrepancies or differences in the literature.

· Presents a unique perspective on addiction that emphasizes molecular, cellular and neurocircuitry changes in the transition to addiction
· Synthesizes diverse findings on the neurobiology of addiction to provide a heuristic framework for future work
· Features extensive documentation through numerous original figures and tables that that will be useful for understanding and teaching ... Read more

Book Description
This widely used and highly praised textbook has been extensively revised to reflect the most exciting research across the entire range of neuroscience.A new feature is an introductory discussion of the mechanisms of gene regulation, while the superfamily of molecules responsible for membrane signaling is given new emphasis as a unifying theme throughout molecular and cellular neurobiology.The roles of these molecules in impulse conduction and synaptic transmission are fully explained, and illustrated by computer models. For the first time in a neurobiology text, these mechanisms can be explored by using a state-of-the-art interactive computer program provided with an accompanying tutorial handbook.In the sections dealing with neural systems, the comparative approach continues to be used to illustrate general principles.Students learn about the progress being made toward a molecular basis for sensory perception and new methods for revealing the neural activity underlying sensory and motor functions are described.There is an emphasis on the plasticity of both sensory and the motor circuits in mediating functions that reflect the effects of activity or recovery from injury.Central systems continue to be featured as the culmination of neural evolution.These include the systems vital for all animals, such as sleeping, feeding and reproduction, as well as the systems for language, emotion and higher cognitive functions that reach their peak in humans.There is special emphasis on recent work on memory, contrasting the mechanisms for short-term working memory and long-term memory and summarizing the present understanding of the mechanisms of long-term potential.The twin themes of organizational levels and comparative systems help bring together the vast range of studies and provides a conceptual framework that unifies the field of neurobiology.As in previous editions, the text continues to draw on the advantages of having a single author.In addition, leaders in a number of specialties have assisted the author, so that the text represents the most up-to-date views of current research on the nervous system. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A self-contained introductory book in neurobiology.
Clearly superior to most of its competitors, this book will serve as a basic introductory text for medical students, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the biomedical sciences.

Shepherd does a wonderful job in explaining core concepts in neuroscience, ranging from the cell, to brain systems, to behavior.

Many of the chapters, especially in molecular and cellular neurobiology, will clarify certain 'dark' concepts, essential not only for neuroscience, but for physiology, pharmacology and immunology as well.

This should be one of the standard texts for every student interested in the nervous system, and in integrative science in general. ... Read more

Book Description

The book is presented as a timeline of development with emphasis on human and vertebrate biology. Fully documented examples exhaustively illustrate general principles in viewing development of structure and function as an integrated unity. All chapters have been extensively revised by noted international specialists. The book incorporates the most recent studies and research, including advances in stem cells and genomics. New chapters on aging and glial biology have been added. Continuity with previous editions is maintained by retention of the historical perspective for which this title is known.

Customer Reviews (2)

A good reference for research on developmental neuroscience
Although I am just reading the first few chapters, the organization of this book has already attracted me. For example, in the section discussing about cortical neurogenesis, the authors provide a deeper point of view and the informations they provided are not seen in the general textbooks of developmental biology or developmental neuroscience. I really appreciate their efforts. In my opinion, this book will be quite useful for the researchers who are working on the development of the central nervous system.

Neurodevelopment - the details
The general reader who has read other developmental referencesand would like more information concerning various aspects of the development of higher nervous systems, will find this reference useful. This reference is a synthesis of the neurobiological literature (indeed, the reference section occupies a third of its pages), but it is nonetheless very readable. The reference starts with neurulation and lineages of nerve cells including the neuroglia. There is then a chapter on the neural crest cells. This is followed by development of axons, dendrites and synapses, including the influence of neurotrophic factors. There is then a chapter on the development of the cerebral cortex and the cerebellar cortex. Morphogenesis of these cortices occurs in three phases - formation and migration of various types of neurons and glia to characteristic positions; forming redundant dendrites and axons, with transient synapses; pruning of dendrites, axons and neurons themselves. The final chapter is on the development of neuronal specificity and neuronal projection maps. Even though a very large percentage of the mammalian genome is expressed exclusively in the nervous system, the genome is still not large enough to specify in detail the interconnections of the developed brain. Rather, it is more parsimonious for the genome to specify programs of histogenesis, migration and various cellular interactions. A neuronal projection map is where one set of neurons projects its axons to another set of neurons such the connections reflect the spatial order of the neurons. Neuronal projection maps are found throughout the nervous system. ... Read more

Book Description
Behavioral Neurobiology provides a novel treatment of the neural basis of behavior. The pedagogical premise of the book is that general insights into the neuronal organization of behavior can be gained by examining neural solutions that have evolved in animals to solve problems encountered in their particular environmental niches. Therefore, rather than organizing the chapters around general themes, such as "Motor Systems" or "Learning and Memory," the author presents in-depth "case studies" of individual animals; themes clearly emerge, but take on additional meaning by being considered in a real-world behavioral context.

While each chapter focuses on the world of a single animal, chapters are clustered into three major thematic sections: Sensory Worlds, Motor Strategies, and Behavioral Plasticity. At the end of each section is a "Coda" highlighting general principles of neuronal organization common to the chapters within it.

In writing the book, Dr. Carew has drawn on his many years of undergraduate teaching at Yale University. Behavioral Neurobiology does not presume a strong biological background, and is therefore suitable for a general undergraduate audience. However, the material is treated in sufficient depth to make the book useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in behavioral neurobiology or neuroethology as well. ... Read more

Book Description
An overview of the neurobiology behind addictions.

A leading addictions specialist presents information about the neurobiology of drug and alcohol addictions and how individuals with addictions respond to various therapies. The strong focus on the most commonly addictive drugs—alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, heroin—as well as others, ensures wide coverage of this issue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

From genetics of dependence to chapters on various ways the brain processes drugs in the body
Neuroscience is clarifying how drug and alcohol addictions are processed in the body - and how it can be treated, so any college-level collection and many a public library interested in the scientific process of addition will want The Science of Addiction: From Neurobiology to Treatment. It reviews the roles brain function and genetics play in addiction, exploring changes in the terminology and definition of addiction and its treatment options in the process of explaining how neurobiological findings influence perception. From genetics of dependence to chapters on various ways the brain processes drugs in the body, any collection strong in health science needs this. ... Read more

Book Description
The first edition of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory was published in 1998 to rave reviews. As before, this second edition will discuss anatomy, development, systems, and models though the organization and content is substantially changed reflecting advances in the field.

Including information from both animal and human studies, this book represents an up-to-date review of the most important concepts associated with the basic mechanism that support learning and memory, theoretical developments, use of computational models, and application to real world problems.

The emphasis of each chapter will be the presentation of cutting-edge research on the topic, the development of a theoretical perspective, and providing an outline that will aid a student in understanding the most important concepts presented in the chapter.

*New material covers basal ganglia, cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, and fear conditioning
*Additional information available on applied issues (i.e., degenerative disease, aging, and enhancement of memory)
*Each chapter includes an outline to assist student understanding of challenging concepts
*Four-color illustrations throughout ... Read more

Book Description
Visit the Neurobiology Website at:

www.blackwellpublishing.com/matthews

As the second edition of a very successful neurobiology book, this text covers a range from molecules to systems, and uses various systems to illustrate each major concept. In addition to the text, this title offers a companion website, which features animations of difficult concepts, online assignments and practice exams, as well as all text figures in an easy to download format.

• Four colour throughout.
  
• New chapter on hypothalamic function with focus on circadian rhythms.
  
• More clinical correlation.
  
• Improved illustration quality and quantity.
  
• Comprehensive text with excellent coverage of subjects from molecules to systems.
  
• Use of systems to illustrate each major concept.

Customer Reviews (1)

Confusion with class
This is one of those books that at first you think is put together right, but once you actually understand the material you realize that either the authors did not understand their own subject matter or that they assumed you already understood the material and you just bought this book to fill up your shelf. I would rate this below zero, but I don't think they would let me. Basically your time would be better spent watching the stooges. ... Read more

Book Description

In the decade since the first edition of The Neurobiology of Autism was published, research has revealed valuable new information about the nature and origins of autism, including genetics and abnormalities in such neurotransmitters as acetylcholine and serotonin. For this long-anticipated new edition, neurologists Margaret L. Bauman and Thomas L. Kemper bring together leading researchers and clinicians to present the most current scientific knowledge and theories about autism. The contributors cover genetics, imaging studies, physiology, neuroanatomy and neurochemistry, immunology, brain function, the epidemiology of the disease, and related disorders. Thoroughly updated, The Neurobiology of Autism remains the best single-volume work on the wide array of research being conducted into the causes, characteristics, and treatment of autism.

Contributors: George M. Anderson, Yale Child Study Center; Tara L. Arndt, University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC); Trang Au, University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMC); Jocelyne Bachevalier, University of Texas Health Science Center; Irina N. Bespalova, Seaver Autism Research Center, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (SARC); Gene J. Blatt, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM); Susan E. Bryson, IWK Health Centre--Dalhousie University; Timothy M. Buie, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); Joseph D. Buxbaum, SARC; Kathryn M. Carbone, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSM); Diane C. Chugani, Wayne State University; Daniel F. Connor, UMMC; Edwin H. Cook, Jr., University of Chicago; S. Hossein Fatemi, University of Minnesota Medical School; Susan E. Folstein, Tufts University School of Medicine; Eric Fombonne, McGill University; Randi Jenssen Hagerman, UC Davis Medical Center; Elizabeth Petri Henske, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia; Jeannette J. A. Holden, Queen's University; Ronald J. Killiany, BUSM; Omanand Koul, UMMC; Mandy Lee, Newcastle General Hospital, U.K.; Xudong Liu, Queen's University; Tara L. Moore, BUSM; Mark B. Moss, BUSM; Karin B. Nelson, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Phillip G. Nelson, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Elaine Perry, Newcastle General Hospital; Jonathan Pevsner, JHUSM; Mikhail V. Pletnikov, JHUSM; Stephen W. Porges, University of Illinois at Chicago; Lucio Rehbein, Universidad de la Frontera, Chile; Jennifer Reichert, SARC; Patricia M. Rodier, URMC; Beth Rosen-Sheidley, MGH; Susan L. Smalley, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Research Institute; Ronald J. Steingard, UMMC; Helen Tager-Flusberg, BUSM; Gary L. Wenk, University of Arizona; Andrew W. Zimmerman, JHUSM

Customer Reviews (2)

invaluble for understanding the true cause of autism
no annecdotal nonsense here.Dr Bauman a Harvard neurologist who has studied the brains of those with autism for years.Her voluminous research dispels the causal myths of autism.Her evidence shows that the assault to the primitive brain affecting the limbic system and cerebellum manifesting as autism happens prenatally.

A futile approach
An elusive and complex disorder is how autism is presented in this book.That's absolutely right, but I don't think this book even begins to give a clue as to the nature of autism.I think the approach has a lot to be desired:We have to assume that the nervous system evolved in order to gratify basic drives.In higher animals, basic drives are refined into emotions.So, what do the neurobiologists say?According to them, autism is a neurobiological problem, but not an emotional one!That's worse than just getting things bass-ackwards. It's being stubbornly reductionist and deliberately obtuse. ... Read more

Book Description
A major collection of writings from an internationally acclaimed researcher.

Ed Tronick, who has been teaching at Harvard for twenty years, has authored some of the key studies in infant and child development. Here, he gathers together major writings that present field-defining work on mother/infant relationships, emotional connection, and the healthy development of infants and children. This is a must-have for anyone interested in this field and a long-awaited book for practitioners. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Revealing and integrative.
Tronick's research from the empirical studies of infant neurobehavior, cross-cultural parenting styles, mother-infant interaction to the still-face studies have shaped a generation of reserach on infancy.In this wonderful compendium he brings it all together with his integrative models of mutual regulation and meaning making and now his dynamic systems perspective on the expansion of dyadic states of consciousness.The book is revealing, almost page by page of new ideas and insights, and is filled with implications for new research and reconceputalizing psychotherapeutic process.It is no less than a tour de force. ... Read more

Book Description
This book is aimed at any basic scientist or clinician scientist teaching a course or conducting research on the basic science underlying the major neurological diseases. It provides an excellent overview of cutting-edge research on the fundamental disorders of the nervous system, including physiological and molecular aspects of dysfunction. The major categories of neurological disease are covered, and the chapters provide specific information about particular diseases exemplifying each of these categories. Sufficient clinical information is included to put into perspective the basic mechanisms discussed. The book assembles a world-class team of section editors and chapters written by acknowledged experts in their respective fields.

* Provides cutting edge information about fundamental mechanisms underlying neurological diseases
* Amply supplied with tables, illustrations and references
* Includes supporting clinical information putting the mechanisms of disease into perspective ... Read more

Book Description
This Second Edition, is the new, thoroughly revised edition of the established and well-respected authoritative text in the field. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology is hypothesis driven and firmly based on numerous experiments performed by experts in the field. Seven new chapters (five new and two totally rewritten) complement and expand on the first edition and are written in a way that encourages students to ask questions. Additionally, new, groundbreaking research data on dendritic processing is presented in a very easy-to-understand format.

* A presentation that is hypothesis driven and firmly based on experiment
* A concise but in depth explanation of molecular properties and functions of excitable cells
* Over 400 two-colour illustrations
* Appendices describingneurobiological techniques ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Buy this book if you're a history major, otherwise it's a waste of time.
I'm currently writing this review as a means of procrastination for an upcoming final in a course that holds this text as assigned reading.The only reason I'm online at all is I was searching everywhere for a hint of what exists in the supposed appendix 11.1, mentioned on pg.341 of this edition, but nowhere to be found apparently (not on the academic press website, and definitely not in the book itself!)The appendix is referenced with those inquisitive readers (as I see mentioned in another review on this page) in mind... the readers who want research to support ridiculous hypotheses so that they too can form their own conclusions.This is only one example of missing items referred to in the text.Overall, it is very poorly written (great if you consider the fact that a foreigner wrote it, but terrible for native english speakers).At one point, the english word chosen was so far removed from that intended that I had to consult French speakers to confirm my suspicion of the simple translational mistake.The figures are probably the worst feature of this text (in comparison to how applauded they are in every review i come across).They are filled with mistakes, often lacking vital conceptual info, and sometimes simply idiotic.Any highly descriptive textbook (especially newly released ones of course) would put the student light-years ahead of their classmates who made the poor decision of buying this terrible book.I never write reviews, and I am very good at biology, so take my advice.I write this in pure disgust that the author was permitted to publish this text, much less teach in the field.

at last a non dogmatic book
In contrast to other textbooks, the book of Hammond is based on the assumption that the most appropriate way to teach is to follow the path that enabled to develop a concept and prove it. The book thus includes over 400 figures of now classical experiments with a concise explanation of the hypothesis, the experimental design used to test the hypothesis and the conclusions derived. The student gets rapidly familiar with channels, basic networks and functions thanks to brief addenda in which complicated experiments with patch clamp techniques become quite straightforward. The molecular and cellular elements required to understand how ionic channels operate during maturation and in relation to sensory perception or learning are presented in an excellent English and includes several chapters by leading experts in their respective fields. The quality of the figures facilitates direct use for teaching neurobiology.

Concise but hard to understand
This book is very different from the myriads of verbose biology textbooks out there.The language is very concise, and so this relatively thin textbook may cover as much material as one that's twice as thick.However, the English is often hard to understand, perhaps because it's orginally written in French and then translated into English. ... Read more

Book Description
This book examines the role that dopamine plays in schizophrenia, examining its role in not only the symptoms of the disease but also in its treatment. It also reviews all neurotransmitters that have been implicated in schizophrenia, exploring the genetic data, clinical data implicating the transmitter, and the preclinical data exploring how a transmitter may interact with dopamine and contribute to the dopaminergic phenotype observed in the illness. This book will serve as an educational tool for instructors, a guide for clinicians, and be of interest to researchers.It is a good reference for researchers specialized in one particular area and interested in learning about other areas of pathology in schizophrenia and how they may all feed into each other.The book concludes with an overall integrative model assembling as many of these elements as possible. ... Read more

Book Description
This manual and disk, available in IBM PC and Macintosh formats, accompanies Shepherd's Neurobiology, 3/e.It can be used separately even though it is keyed to the textbook. The 17 experiments investigate such areas as the resting membrane potential, action potential, voltage clamp, physiological properties of nerve cells, and synaptic potentials.The program allows students to propagate the action potential, adjust various parameters and observe the effects on nerve cell firing.Students will learn about equilibrium potentials and the effects of changing ion concentrations, as well as passive and active membrane properties. Separate experiments analyze sodium ion and potassium ion currents, the voltage dependence of these currents, and sleep vs. waking in single neurons.Study questions are provided throughout.This ingeniously-designed program will benefit all undergraduate students of neuroscience. ... Read more