The Synaptic Organization of the Brain

by Gordon M. Shepherd (Editor)

Leading neuroscience authorities have joined together in this book to provide state-of-the-art accounts of the neural elements, synaptic connections, basic circuits, physiology, pharmacology, dendritic properties and functional implications of brain structures, A new chapter on the cochlear
nucleus describes the neural basis of audition and supplements the analyses of vision in the retina, lateral geniculate and visual cortex, and of olfaction in the olfactory bulb and cortex. Chapters on the spinal cord, cerebellum and basal ganglia provide insight into the neural basis of
sensorimotor integration. The material on the hippocampus is a new synthesis of the anatomy and physiology related to learning and memory. New research incorporated through the chapters recent studies of backpropagating impulses and active properties of dendrites; the increasing evidence
for specific receptor and channel subunits and their properties; neuronal modeling; and emerging data for the existence of canonical synaptic circuits mediating the information processing underlying behavior and cognition. The book will be essential reading for experimental and computational
neuroscientists, neuropharmacologists, and cognitive neuroscientists, as well as undergraduate, graduate, and medical students studying brain organization and brain function.

Genres: Neuroscience, Science, Nonfiction, Reference

656 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Jacob Bornheimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read relevant sections on the hippocampus and on synapse types. I'll keep hold of this for later reference. Though dated (1974), it still provides excellent background, and is well written to boot. I understand there are newer editions, which are likely great.

[Jamie is · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just found when I was reorganizing my closet- pleasant memory of college. Unsure how much has changed since then as I've completely fallen out of the field but lauded for being a groundbreaking work of its time.

[Kazutaka Ogaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very useful for me because I'm building a so-called simulator of 'Thinking'. For this purpose, I would give 5 stars on this book.

But for general readers, this book is too much.
I recommend Christof Koch's (one of co-author of this book) work "Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist" to taste scientific sense of wonder in studying human-brain.

As for my purpose, 'Wet-ware' architecture of 'CPU in human heads' is described in detail. And, its quantity approach is also helpful to implement simulation program.

If you were a researcher of this area, you'd know better than me :)

[Michael Weaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book elaborated in great detail on circuitry of the spinal cord, cochlear nucleus, olfactory bulb, retina, cerebellum, thalamus, basal ganglia, olfactory cortex, hippocampus and cerebral cortex and how groups of neurons give rise to brain functions. It was also helpful for theoretical neurophysiology book from the morphological and physiological modeling assemblies at the cell or systems level.

[David Olmsted · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not a general introduction into neuroscience, instead it is an introduction into neurophysiology. The editor, Gordon Shepherd, was the main discoverer of neural microcircuits (covered at the beginning of the book) which is just another clue showing that the standard model of the neuron as a summation node with a threshold is way too simplistic.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic in the field of Neuroscience. I give it a five for historical reasons, although it's certainly a bit dated now. It was written in 1979. Definitely only for hardcore types, though. Requires a great deal of background in neuroscience.

[DJ]

recommended by Alice Parker