| View Larger Image | Brain Architecture: Understanding the Basic Plan (Medicine) | Paperbackby Larry W. Swanson (Author)
| List Price: | $36.95 | | Price: | $31.58 | | You Save: | $5.37 (15%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Oxford University Press, USA | | Edition: | 1st Edition | | Page Count: | 288 Pages | | Publication Date: | October 31, 2002 | | Sales Rank: | 261,688st |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Depending on your point of view the brain is an organ, a machine, a biological computer, or simply the most important component of the nervous system. How does it work as a whole? What are its major parts and how are they interconnected to generate thinking, feelings, and behavior? This book surveys 2,500 years of scientific thinking about these profoundly important questions from the perspective of fundamental architectural principles, and then proposes a new model for the basic plan of neural systems organization based on an explosion of structural data emerging from the neuroanatomy revolution of the 1970's The importance of a balance between theoretical and experimental morphology is stressed throughout the book. Great advances in understanding the brain's basic plan brain have come especially from two traditional lines of biological thought- evolution and embryology, because each begins with the simple and progresses to the more complex. Understanding the organization of brain circuits, which contain thousands of links or pathways, is much more difficult. It is argued here that a four-system network model can explain the structure-function organization of the brain. Possible relationships between neural networks and gene networks revealed by the human genome project are explored in the final chapter. The book is written in clear and sparkling prose, and it is profusely illustrated. It is designed to be read by anyone with an interest in the basic organization of the brain, from neuroscience to philosophy to computer science to molecular biology. It is suitable for use in neuroscience core courses because it presents basic principles of the structure of the nervous system in a systematic way. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 7 reviews)
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A Short, Good Book on Brain Structure by B. Madigan (Anchorage, AK)  4 Stars
September 19, 2005
I bought this book to refresh and update what I know about brain structure so I could better understand current neuroscience findings. Overall, I am happy with the outcome.
Swanson is a recognized authority on neural structures. He writes clearly and communicates a palpable excitement as he describes fundamental insights into brain organization and function. I particularly liked the way he presents the key historic developments that led to current views. Swanson also has the expert's appreciation of where theories are solid and where contemporary understanding is seriously lacking. In fact, one important message of the book is that the field still has only a tenuous grasp of many structural details about the brain, not to mention major uncertainties about connections between structure and function.
I did not give the book the highest rating for two reasons. First, the material on the cognitive system omitted discussion of areas that are important in contemporary memory research such as the amygdala, the rhinal cortex, and the cingulate gyrus. Swanson uses different terminology to describe these and other areas, believing that the traditional terms are unnecessary and should be abandoned. While improved classification schemes are to be applauded, contemporary researchers continue to use the traditional terms. I would have liked more help to bridge the terminology disconnect.
My second complaint is that a number of terms he does use are undefined both in the text and in the skimpy glossary. This material is hard enough when you have all the definitions and descriptions.
But I want to end a positive note. The book is well written, short, focused, engaging, and helpful in understanding brain structure. Maybe that's as good as it gets for a work on neuroanatomy written for non specialists.
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Needs more diagrams, images and discursive flair by John Harpur (Trim, Meath, IRELAND) 4 Stars
September 11, 2005
Often the fit between research scholarship and effective writing skills is difficult to achieve. This book is an example of that unevenness that really should be caught by a good editor. Personally I found the text educational, interesting and peppered with historical gems that some lent anecdotal dynamism to the work. However, the illustrations are largly drawn from historical works, which is quaint but not particularly helpful given modern research requirements. The diagrams in the book are uninspiring grayscale shapes. I didn't find them informative.
The book really kicks off in Chapter 4, The Basic Vertebrate Plan. Disappointingly, Swanson's potentially mouth opening discussion of four rival brain architectures is too abrupt and tails off into vagueness. Its overall tenor is not helped by very plain diagrams of their components. The upside is that he covers the evolution in historical thought very well - of interest to any historian of science. Given my needs (computational modelling) the book was very adequate but only because I had already tucked From Neuron to Brain under my belt a few months previously.
The first few chapters cover neuroembryogenesis and the theories of neural plate development. After that, the book takes off through the vertebrate brain and four main systems (behaviour, motor, cognitive and sensory). it concludes with a brief chapter on learning and damage repair. The book drives home some points clearly and simply, such as the separate development of motor and sensory ganglion cirucits. Sometimes the descriptions are clouded by the author's view that conventional descriptors in human anatomy are the wrong way round (or just plain wrong). For instance, the anterior-posterior axis in humans is also called the rostrocaudal axis by neuroembryologists. This illustrates one of Swanson's bugbears, viz, that studies of human brain architecture have not made more of comparative neuroanatomy studies. I have no expertise to comment on this issue, but I did question its immediate relevance to the central text.
As the book runs through the main human brain systems, it becomes a bit thin in places. More pages are needed to elaborate complex principles and theories than the book affords. In his discussion of the cognitive system, Swanson argues that the grouping of components in the cerebral hemispheres is buried in a miasma of different and conflicting naming schemes. It is better to take guidance from embryology, he argues, in determining brain regionalisation schema. This promise of simplifcation, which would make any brain texts more readable at least, is undermined by the supporting diagrams. Time and again, interesting and intriguing hypotheses and critiques are let down by the lack of high quality visuals. It is a great pity, given the standards of other texts.
I must admit that I found this book interesting and Swanosn definitely stamps his 'own outlook' on the material. However, I was relieved I had digested something substantially more graphical in the area before reading this book.
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A brilliant book for serious neuroscientists by Charles R. Watson (Perth, WA Australia)  5 Stars
October 31, 2004
I found this book to be stimulating, informing, and very readable. Larry shows his mastery of brain organisation by distilling reams of detail into instructive paragraphs. This is one of the most interesting neuroscience books I have read. It is a must buy for graduate students in mammalian neuroscience. Congratualtions Larry!
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Not a serious work  2 Stars
July 06, 2004
This book is not for people with a serious interest in brain structure or function. The text suffers from an extraordinary absence of references-there are literally none with the exception of some of the figures. This omission is made all the more disturbing by an endless series of dubious claims (all unreferenced):? "...there are in round numbers about 50000 major connections or pathways that form the macrocircuitry of the central nervous system." ? people born without a cerebellum can "think just fine."? "...the infragranular layers are essentially the 'motor' part of the cerebral cortex."? "the cerebral cortex...is the part of the nervous system responsible for thinking."The book's laborious coverage of neural development is adequately presented, but has little in the way of a payoff for understanding principles of brain architecture beyond the strictly anatomical. The chapter on motor systems presents the loosely constrained theory of "central pattern generators" with minimal acknowledgment of the complexity or contention in the literature. And the chapter on sensory systems is an ode to the diversity of sensory receptors with little to say about general principles of sensation or how they are reflected in anatomy. The most interesting sections of the book are those in which Swanson discusses the insights of history's great early thinkers in neuroscience. One can appreciate the brilliance of the contributions of Aristotle, Descartes and Gall while recognizing how their conclusions were ultimately crippled by dogma. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is filled with little more than present day dogma.Although the study of neuroanatomy is deep and rich, at this point it has little to say alone about the how the brain works. Surprisingly, Swanson presents little from an enormous body of neurophysiology, lesion and behavioral experiments which work with anatomical results to help constrain our thinking about brain function. In summary, Brain Architecture has far more dogma than data, and reads less like a carefully constructed scientific thesis than an endless series of speculations. If you have a serious interest in neuroanatomy or brain function, I would strongly suggest looking elsewhere.
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Excellent neuroanatomy intro & overview by DR P. Dash 5 Stars
June 19, 2003
This is a well written and concise introduction to some basic principles of CNS anatomy, written with an eye to both historical and developmental perspectives. Swanson likes to use classic diagrams from celebrated old-timers like Cajal to illustrate basic principles, and also includes some relatively new information on the exciting progress in molecular determinants of brain embryological development. I'd strongly recommend this as a first quick read-through for those about to embark on a more detailed neuroanatomy course, or for the interested undergraduate or even precocious high school student with an interest in the subject. Speaking as an experienced clinical neurologist, I found the book a nice refresher, and even learned a new thing or two from it.
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