Neuroscience

by Dale Purves, George J. Augustine, David Fitzpatrick

Neuroscience , Fifth Edition, is a comprehensive textbook created primarily for medical, premedical, and undergraduate students. In a single concise and approachable volume, the text guides students through the challenges and excitement of this rapidly changing field. The book's length and
accessibility of its writing are a successful combination that has proven to work equally well for medical students and in undergraduate neuroscience courses. Being both comprehensive and authoritative, the book is also appropriate for graduate and professional use.

Key features of the Fifth

*In addition to new figures, all of the art has been modified with a new color palette and digital enhancements.

*All chapters have been updated to reflect current research; new literature citations have been added, as well as new experimental content. Substantial revisions have been made Chapter 4, Ion Channels and Transporters , Chapter 6, Neurotransmitters and Their Receptors , and Chapter 8, Synaptic
Plasticity ; all chapters in Unit IV, The Changing Brain ; and all chapters in Unit V, Complex Brain Functions .

* Sylvius included with every book

*An appendix presenting an illustrated narrative of human neuroanatomy plus annotated atlas plates presenting brain sections from Sylvius



RESOURCES

For Students

Companion Website
The Neuroscience companion website features review and study tools to help students master the material presented in the neuroscience course. Access to the site is free of charge and requires no access code. The site

* Chapter Summaries : Concise overviews of the important topics covered in each chapter.

* Animations : Detailed animations depict many of the key topics presented in the textbook. Topics such as synaptic transmission, resting membrane potential, information processing in the eye, the stretch reflex, and many others are presented in a dynamic manner that helps students visualize and
better understand many of the complex processes of neuroscience.

* Online Quizzes : Available at the instructor's discretion (see For Instructors/Online Quizzing below)

* Flashcards and Key Terms : Flashcard activities help students master the extensive vocabulary of neuroscience. Each chapter's set of flashcards includes all the key terms introduced in that chapter.

An Interactive Atlas and Visual Glossary of Human Neuroanatomy
S. Mark Williams, Leonard E. White, and Andrew C. Mace

Sylvius provides a unique computer-based learning environment for exploring and understanding the structure of the human central nervous system. Sylvius features fully annotated surface views of the human brain, as well as interactive tools for dissecting the central nervous system and viewing fully
annotated cross-sections of preserved specimens and living subjects imaged by magnetic resonance. Sylvius is more than a conventional atlas; it incorporates a comprehensive, visually rich, searchable database of more than 500 neuroanatomical terms that are concisely defined and visualized in
photographs, magnetic resonance images, and illustrations from Neuroscience .

Program Components

*Surface Anatomy Atlases (Photographic, Magnetic Resonance Image, Brainstem Model): Provide a visual introduction to the location and names of the major external features and subdivisions of the human brain.

*Sectional Anatomy Atlases (Photographic, Magnetic Resonance Image, Brainstem and Spinal Cord): Allow the user to explore the internal organization of the brain.

* Allows students to follow the flow of information in several important long-tract pathways of the central nervous system.

*Visual Searchable glossary providing visual representations, concise anatomical and functional definitions, and audio pronunciation of neuroanatomical structures.


For Instructors

Instructor's Resource Library

View samples on the samples page.

The Neuroscience Instructor's Resource Library includes a variety of resources to help in developing your course and delivering your lectures. The Library

* Textbook Figures and Tables : All the figures and tables from the textbook are provided in JPEG format (both high- and low-resolution), reformatted and relabeled for optimal readability.

* PowerPoint Presentations : A PowerPoint presentation that includes all figures and tables is included for each chapter, making it easy to add figures to your own presentations.

* Atlas Images : All of the images from the book's Atlas of the Human Central Nervous System (which are from Sylvius ) are included in PowerPoint format, for use in lecture.

* Animations : All of the animations from the companion website are included for use in lecture and other course-related activities.

* Quiz Questions : All of the questions from the companion website's online quizzes are provided in Microsoft Word format.

* Review Questions : A set of short-answer review questions is provided for each chapter of the textbook (Micros...

Genres: Neuroscience, Science, Textbooks, Psychology, Nonfiction, Reference, Biology

759 pages, Hardcover

First published November 17, 1996

About the author

Dale Purves (born March 11, 1938) is Geller Professor of Neurobiology Emeritus in the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences where he remains Research Professor with additional appointments in the department of Psychology and Brain Sciences, and the department of Philosophy at Duke University. He earned a B.A. from Yale University in 1960 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1964.

Reviews

[Liam O'Leary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, having studied MSci Neuroscience and now being a PhD student, this is the best general neuroscience textbook for undergraduate/graduate neuroscience students.

That said, while it excels for molecular neurobiology and systems neuroscience, it is weaker at computational, cellular and behavioural neuroscience. I think it beats Kandel in its content layout and structure: Kandel reads like an electronic manual with little emphasis on what is functionally important detail and also lacks in wide level reflection. If you want a directory of neuroscience facts get Kandel, if you want a more coherent understanding of important concepts and where they might lead get this.

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One can never really be 'done' with a science textbook insofar as they become outdated by the time you finish them and you forget what you read at the beginning by the time you have reached the end.

But I felt like reviewing this in case someone actually came on GoodReads looking for textbook recommendations. Ultimately, if you are good at science, you will rarely if ever need to buy a textbook, as you needn't use it after the first year as your work will become more dependent on original research (readin papers). This is because one cannot really be critical of textbook information without consulting the original source information, and part of the point of science education is to demonstrate ways in which you can perceive and pursue your own scepticism of knowledge.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

(updated 8/25/10)
Many medical schools, including the one where I teach, use this as the standard neuroscience-survey textbook for both medical and graduate students. It is generally well-written, highly authoritative, and very well-illustrated. There are 3 or 4 other textbooks that are used by some schools for the same purpose; in general, the others are much longer and somewhat more challenging to read.

I would recommend this book as a very good introduction to the field of neuroscience, with coverage of everything from single neurons and synaptic transmission, to brain systems (sensory, motor, limbic/emotional, cognitive), to a smattering of neurology and psychiatric disease.

It will be most useful for those who need or wish to have a working knowledge of brain structure and function, and their relationship to behavior, cognition, and disease. It is not light reading by any means, but it is probably the best combination of concise and comprehensive coverage in this field.

(8/25/10 update)
The book includes a password for the downloadable brain-tutoring program, Sylvius 4. This program can be very useful as an adjunct, visual aid to the book. We recommend it to medical and graduate students as another way to learn the material (we also provide a lot of visual aids through the proprietary Blackboard system). I tell students to look at every resource and decide what will work best for them – the goal is to get a sense of the 3-dimensional relationships of the brain structures. Many students (and instructors) use Sylvius 4 extensively, and it is certainly worth taking the time to check it out.

However, for most readers I would recommend the following visual aids for starters – these are more accessible in terms of content, and more user-friendly than Sylvius 4.

For a very useful, cool-graphics version of the human brain, I recommend the free iPhone/iPad app, 3D Brain, by the Dana Foundation and Cold Spring Harbor Lab. You can find it in the iTunes app store, or link to it from here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/3d-bra...

Alternatively or in addition, I highly recommend the Cold Spring Harbor website on modern neuroscience, called Genes to Cognition. It includes an online version of 3D Brain, and a wealth of other information in a user-friendly format:

http://www.g2conline.org/

[DJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a nasty habit of mistaking naming for explaining, but it served the purpose of introducing an egghead physicist/mathematician to the messy biological world of neuroscience. If nothing else, its convincing evidence that neuroscience needs theorists.

If (Amount of jargon) > (Space in a human brain),
then FindTheorists.

[Fede]

"800-sivuinen helkkarin hyvä textbook" - H

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This neuroscience textbook does an incredible job of explaining entry level concepts to readers with a mid range of scientific experience. My knowledge going into this read was a single college biology course and I was able to comprehend most, if not all, of the material the first read. The book is incredibly accessible which is what draws many professors and scholars alike to recommend the work. I myself speak praises of the clarity with which the presented knowledge can be absorbed rapidly through the use of diagrams and explanations. Unlike most textbooks, this one is compelling, well written, and most importantly understandable. As a neuroscience scholar, consider this a required foundation reading. The ebook is readily accessible as well which provides multiple platforms for distribution.

[Luke Meakin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book covering everything from the minute aspects of the brain such as individual cells and processes to the study of collective systems and processes that extend over millions of cells (Systems Neuroscience).

Incredibly well written and detailed with a multitude of extra resources offered for further reading and research around all subjects presented in the book.

Aimed at students towards the end of their undergraduate degree/postgraduate level as quite specific and heavy with regards to depth of material. That being said, any reader can learn lots from this book if one is willing to be patient with adapting to medical and scientific language.

[Sara]

I don't care, I basically read this mf cover to cover and it nearly killed my soul, it counts.

[Mobina golsefatan · Rating 5 out of 5]

بسم الله
کتاب خیلی مناسبی برای ورود جدی به نوروساینس هست. بسیار بسیار راحت‌تر از کندل خوانده می‌شه ولی کمی طول می‌کشه که به ادبیاتش و منطقش عادت کنید.
من این کتاب رو به عنوان منبع اصلی دوره‌ی نوروساینس مقدماتی خواندم و درطول دوره امتحان‌های سختی ازش گرفته شد. برای همین تاکید می‌کنم که در کتاب‌های اینچنینی، غیر از متن کتاب، فیگرها خیلی حرف‌ برای گفتن دارند

اگر فرصت دارید می‌تونید کندل رو هم نگاه کنید در حین خواندن این کتاب اون خیلی مفصل‌تره. (کندل منبع دوم ما بود)

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The amount of typos in this seventh edition blew my mind: lots of incorrect grammar (nitpicking I know, but it’s distracting!), incorrectly spelled words, and a number of really vague statements that did not explain the concept.

Many figures were great! Some were oversimplified to the point of incorrect interpretation, and the same is true for the text. Good for surface level and broad knowledge but not anything past that.

[Frank Solomon · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are newer versions of this book available, with more up-to-date studies. But, this edition is most often quoted, in my experience.

Lots of interesting things here. I was most interested in the sleep research.

[Samantha Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great textbook for guiding students through the complexities of neuroscience. With the rapid evolution of knowledge in the field this it offers a grounding to help students evaluate new information. It's well organized making it easy to use for quick referencing. The source material cited is another wealth of information.

[Iván Leija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como estudiante de psicología su lectura fue un reto muy enriquecedor. Es a veces no confuso sino prolijo en la cantidad de detalles, los cuales saturan las páginas y reducen el espacio con el que contarían las ideas principales. Los diagramas e ilustraciones son muy útiles.

[Chase Mackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best introduction to the topics in the Neurosciences, as opposed to Kandel's "Principles of Neural Science." Purves et al. take the student through the various levels of analysis, from the molecular to the systems level, cover complex functions and their associated theoretical frameworks, all with a strict adherence to the evidence. This evidence based work allows the student to do some amount of critical thinking, resembling what one actually does in reading research in peer-reviewed academic journals.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very heavy on anatomy, which was challenging but taught me a new way to think. Would've liked more on cognition and higher-order processes, but I think that's my fault for misunderstanding where neuroscience is on that right now and what the primary research goals and acceptable evidence consist of.

[Sueper · Rating 3 out of 5]

While many of my colleagues do not care of this textbook, I thought it was quite good for someone with no background in neuroscience, and very little biology and physiology. I'm sure I will continue to use it as a reference.

[Yas · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the top best books for a beginner to intermediate neuroscience enthusiasts that goes through the nervous section from one neurons to the network of the nervous system, the brain and even medical cases. Great illustrations with detailed information and labeled diagrams.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was at first a foreign language book for me. I really had to study the scientific language to make any sense of it, but that study led to a great appreciation for neuroscience.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, probably the best textbooks I've ever had. Very helpful!

[Christian Romero]

Leyendo el capitulo de Motor

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely, the best one for the study of nervous system applied to neuroscience.

[DongJae Ryoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Niyonsenga Theogene]

to be a good reader

[Christine Walsvick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many words! The pictures could be better.