Principles of Neural Science, Fifth Edition

This is a massive volume that provides a detailed sense of "the principles of neural science," the work's title. Basic statistics: the book weighs about nine pounds; it is 1709 pages long; it has 67 chapters; there are six appendices; 79 authors are involved; the book is divided up into 9 parts, each with numerous chapters. To compare, the fourth edition (published in 2000) had about 1400 pages. This volume is not meant for a general audience, but it is a wonderful resource for those who can work their way through its many chapters. I have found earlier volumes in this series very helpful for one part of my academic research agenda (the political implications of human biology). Let's take a look at the structure of the volume, to illustrate the substance of the book. Part I provides an overall perspective on the scope of the book. The chapters examine the role of the brain in behavior, a summary of nerve cells and their function, and the relationship between genes, the brain, and behavior. With this serving as an introduction, Part II goes on to examine cells and the molecular biology of the neuron. Among subjects covered: The structure and nature of neurons and glial cells (which support neurons) and the electrical properties of neurons. Part III focuses on synapses, which provide for communication between and among neurons. How do synapses operate? What are chemical and electrical modes of operation? What is the role of neurotransmitters? Finally, this section considers diseases of the nerve and systems that they support. Part IV is very important for my research interests--"The Neural Basis of Cognition." How does the brain and its structure affect cognition Chapter 15 describes the structure of the central nervous system and how the cerebral cortex, for example, affects cognition. In the chapter is a discussion of how the cerebral cortex is organized by layers AND by columns. Other important chapters in this section include effects on cognitive functioning of the brain outside the cerebral cortex and how functional imaging of cognition works (and the limitations with the use of such technology). Part V summarizes our understanding of perception, how we come to experience the world around us. Subjects? The somatosensory system, touch, pain, vision (with five chapters devoted to the subject), the inner ear, hearing, and smell and taste. Part VI? Movement. The chapters herein explore the various elements in making movement possible. We learn of the different brain areas and other support systems underlying movement and locomotion. How do people process information? Part VII concentrates on this, and this segment is also of relevance for my own research interests. Part VIII targets development and emergence of behavior. The one chapter in this section that is most poignant to me is Chapter 59--"The Aging Brain." The chapter speaks to what we know of the effects of aging on the brain and its functioning. Finally, section IX, "Language, Affect, and Learning." These represent key issues of interest in our understanding of central features of being human. This book is not something that most of us would skim. But it is a compendium that well illustrates what we know about the structure and function of the brain. For those interested in the subject, this is an important work.

I am a urologist specializing in neurologically impaired patients so I read Kandels newest edition once they become available. This edition is superb with colorful and easily understood illustrations, diagrams and radiology studies including PET scans. The print is very legible and the spacing is perfect. It took a month to read the 1700 pages but its the best book i have read these last 10 years with Bruce Alberts Molecular Biology of the Cell whose 6th edition should be out later this year. I really found the molecular biology and anatomy chapter the perfect reintroduction for me. It provided me with the perfect detail and understanding for a paper I am writing on Strokes and their Effect on the Bladder. The disease specific Chapters on Stroke, Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis each are well detailed but with excellent explanations of the principles necessary for the clinician to get a strong hold on this relevant material. These chapters should be standard reading for all medical students and residents. The radiological studies chosen to illustrate these disease entities are the best i have seen and explain what is important to know and understand for each type of stroke, progressive MS or non progressive MS. I purchased it early after its release new for 70 dollars so with its success it will soon be a classic at 100 plus dollars and will still be worth every penny. I will now use this to teach my students the fundamentals of a neurological exam and to emphasis the commonly seen neurological disease seen by urologists. Thank you Dr Kandel for a book well worth the 7 year wait.

Wealth of Knowledge and Awesome Diagrams The book Principles of Neural Science by Kandel et. al. has been a fantastic compliment to the class I’m currently enrolled in at Iowa State. The immense amount of knowledge contained in the book enhances my learning and has helped to develop my understanding of neural science. The diagrams in the book are well illustrated and display the contents of the book effectively. This is a required book for graduation in my discipline and is for advanced learners only. The subject matter within the book might be difficult to grasp without some prior knowledge of neural science. The information in this book is outstanding and is unlike any other neural science textbook that I have read during my college career. With that said, the book is very “heavy”, in both weight and content. I haven’t weighed it myself, but it is the heaviest textbook I have had in my four years of college. However, with the relevant amount of information in the book, it is a price I’m willing to pay! I would recommend this textbook for people seeking an advanced education in the field of neural science. The book has complicated information, but with the detailed diagrams and case studies provided, the reader gains a better understanding of neural science.

I do not need this text (done with my education a long time ago), but read it for pure fun every now and then. Do not need it for work. Perhaps the fact that I read this when I feel like it, not when I must, increases the pleasure of experiencing it. The text is a very thorough description of the current status of knowledge, including the current confusions in the minds of neuroscientists when it comes to "mind", "consciousness" and the like. I never stop being shocked how obviously smart people find "controversy" or that something is "unknown", when in other parts of the text they show clear answers. For example, in chapter 17 Dr. Kandel describes how Penrose was able to establish the cortical representation of sensation by stimulating the cortex in awake patients and asking them what they felt, obviously demonstrating that stimulation of certain areas of the cortex brought specific things into the patients' consciousness, that they were then able to report verbally to the surgeon who was doing the stimulation. Yet, a few pages later in the text, Dr. Kandel writes about a fierce debate between philosophers of mind about the nature of consciousness "because it is difficult to see how consciousness might be explained in reductionist physical terms." Well, he just did, a few pages before that, by describing Penrose's experiment. Puzzling. But apart from a few such details this is the greatest text for anyone wishing to inform themselves about the function of the human brain.

I'm a NASA human systems integrator (human factors) and do a lot of work in the cognitive neuroscience field. This was recommended to me by a friend I respect with a doctorate in the field and I was not disappointed. If you want to know anything about anything in neuroscience, you will find it in here. Very clearly written but not for the layman; you need some background in brain anatomy and human physiology. It sits on my desk as a very handy reference.

After its release was pushed back many times, the 5th edition finally came out within the past year, and I have been reading it on my laptop's Kindle app throughout my first year of core PhD courses and in preparing for my qualifying exam. I had read some of the 4th edition during undergrad, as well. In general my feelings towards the book are warm, and I do expect that if you read the textbook, dear reader of this review, you will learn a lot from it. Positives 1) Does a good job of not trying to be Alberts' *Molecular Biology of the Cell*. The sections on cell biology, the central dogma, and non-neuroscience-related signaling pathways are refreshingly bare-boned. Seek resources elsewhere if you want to go ham on transcription, translation, and the MAPKKK-MAPKK-MAPK cascade. 2) Perception, sensation, and movement were not the reasons that I first became interested in neuroscience, and, generalizing from my one example as is de rigueur in book reviews, I think that is true of most students. And while this might be just Stockholm syndrome, I'm actually quite happy that there is so much detail and care put into these sections which make up around 1/3rd of the text. These fields are way more tractable to study than the sexy emotion, learning, and personal identity, yet the most of the principles that have been discovered there are likely to generalize. As an example of this, consider the work of Charles Sherrington, who among other accomplishments won the 1932 Nobel for explaining spinal reflexes as a balance of excitation and inhibition. And now that we have some fancy techniques like conditional genetic KOs and optogenetics, we know that a variety of other phenomena, from critical periods to anxiety, are also regulated via a very similar balance of excitation and inhibition. 3) Most chapters do an excellent job of motivating their material. For example, they emphasize themes from the history of how people have thought about the brain, e.g. James and Freud. There are also a few references to art and literature, such as Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, that are really money. 4) Most fundamentally, this is the eminent textbook on how your mind works and how you are able to understand the words that you are currently reading. And there are some chapters, especially the last three (65 - 67), that really delve into this. What's there not to love? Negatives 1) In general neuroscience tries very hard to distinguish itself from psychology and this makes good sense in terms of specialization. But the field is still operating in the wake of Karl Lashley, a famous experimentalist who in the 1930s concluded that brain regions had "equipotentiality" for learning mazes not because his lesions were flawed but because his tasks were not specific enough. Designing behavioral tasks is not trivial. Yet, you will not read much about the principles behind how to do so, and nothing about the matching law or Rescorla-Wagner. (My bias: I did some research in learning and behavior in undergrad.) 2) For one of our classes we read an older (3rd edition) version of Chapter 13 on Neurotransmitters. There were way more equations explaining different models of neurotransmitter vesicle release patterns, e.g. explaining the use of the Poisson distribution as an approximation for the binomial. It doesn't make sense that the text has become less quantitative at the same time that math has become easier to use to explain phenomena, as a result of advances in systems biology and just programming generally. 3) Why does searching for "optogenetics" yield me zero results? 4) I prefer my pedagogical material to be structured in the format of *example 1*, *example 2*, (*optional example 3*), and *inducted principle*. The examples only matter insofar as they motivate the principles. Kandel's textbook strays slightly too far from this, I think. In particular, the text tends to enshrine the examples, such CREB, CamKII, PKA, and the ilk, as worthy of our worship in and of themselves. This sets the trend for how neuroscience courses should be taught and for that reason it is a bit troubling.

This book arrived swiftly, just as promised. It was much heftier than I'd expected (so taking it to school often was out of the question). I was obligated to read this for a graduate course, and, despite some of the more dense chapters being a bit tedious, I rather enjoyed the explanations overall. I would warn/recommend anyone who picks up this book to have a solid foundation of neuroanatomy first, or else it will be a struggle to get through a chapter. The return process was quite easy and the rental company was very helpful for me. :)

The best neuroscience text; even this slightly older edition is outstanding. Speedy delivery, very well packaged to protect unused textbook.

In research there is no end point of line, but we can accumulate huge extent of robust knowledge from this beautiful book in a singular point from where generate a crystal clear keen regular concept to understand our Nature.

Nach den störenden ständigen Verschiebungen des Erscheinungsdatums dieses wissenschaftlichen Werks ist man nun doch überrascht von der Qualität des ca. 2000 Seiten starken Buchs. Verglichen mit der vorausgegangenen 4. Auflage, ist die jetzige Auflage als völlig überarbeitet und stark verbessert zu bezeichnen. Dazu enthält das Buch weitere wichtige, völlig neue Abschnitte, welche aktuelle Forschungsgebiete betreffen. Vergleicht man weiterhin bestimmte Abschnitte der 4. und 5. Auflage, so z.B. "The Chemical Senses", so stellt man fest, daß sie im wesentlichen neu geschrieben und mit besseren Bildern ausgestattet wurden. Zusätzlich sind fast alle Themengebiete mit der neuesten Literatur versehen. Insgesamt dürfte diese 5. Auflage als überragendes Werk unter allen wissenschaftlichen Büchern gelten. Ein Grund dafür ist die hohe Qualität der dort gezeigten Farbbilder und deren fließende Einarbeitung in den Text. Die Bilder wurden offensichtlich mit großem Farb- und Formverständnis in den Text integriert. Angesichts des außergewöhnlichen Aufwands, der zu dieser neuen Auflage führte, kann der Preis des Buches eigentlich vernachlässigt werden. gez. Claus Hoheisel

Massive. Three times bigger than I expected which was at first intimidating until I saw how brilliantly the book is organized. It has the cleverest and most useful table of contents I've ever seen. Each section title, whatever the nesting level, is a description of that section's primary message/learning/take-away which means the TOC itself reads like a precis of the book that can be 'zoomed' in or out according to how much detail you choose to read. Ingenious!

Es un libro de referencia en el área de neurociencias. Es ideal para estudiantes de esta área (neurofisiología) y para profesionales de la salud. Totalmente recomendado, de fácil lectura y muy cómodo para leer (tamaño de letra y esquemas). Este libro particularmente lo uso para el posgrado en Ciencias Fisiológicas y es un texto de consulta el cual explica de manera clara y concisa cada uno de los conceptos de la Neurofisiología y mecanismos básicos (moleculares, eléctricos, anatómicos). Lo recomiendo ampliamente para estudiar Neurofisiología, ya sea que seas estudiante de neurociencias, biomédicas, o simplemente eres apasionado al tema.

Comme le titre l'indique, j'ai reçu ce bouquin en 3 jours ouvrés au lieu de 15 jours ! Le livre était neuf (dans son emballage), il y avait juste un coin légèrement corné malgré le bon packaging (un carton dans un carton) mais rien de grave donc je conserve les 5 étoiles :-)