Substantially revised, this Second Edition includes the latest breakthroughs in this fast-moving field. The authors present emerging areas of network science, dynamical systems theory, behavioral economics, and animal intelligence and tie each area to discoveries in psychology, neuroscience, and cognition. Major findings are placed in the context of the theories and models of cognition and critically evaluated. Providing a unifying framework, pedagogical features help students understand the different methodologies and perspectives in cognitive science.
My first foray into a 'real' cogsci textbook. Basic but broad introduction work. Some of the chapters were better developed than others. If you have a good background in Philosophy of Mind and 4E cognitive science pass on this and find a more specific tome (neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurobiology, et cetera) suited to your needs. Or do what I will do next, although your mileage may vary here:
Read Kandel's 5th edition of Principles of Neural Science. The alleged classic work but a whopping 1760 pages. It will be slow, necessarily need-to-know-this-now chapter sampling, and bound to be frustrating at times.
Read that next to Bear, Paradiso, and Connors (2015) Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain. That is only a bit more than half the pages of Kandel at 975.
In my case I will keep combining reading neuroscience with empirical studies and articles and books on the ongoing engagement with these from a philosophical standpoint (embodied embedded enacted extended cognition).
An easy read. I enjoyed reading this book. Though author's view on animals and evolution was inaccurate, misleading, and outdated. It also can use a bit of textbook structure to help studying the material.
Not an easy read, basically a textbook. It’s a really good choice however to get an insight into each subfield of cognitive science and to how they’re connected to each other.