Functional Neuroanatomy: An Interactive Text and Manual
Functional Neuroanatomy: An Interactive Text and Manual
Joseph JT, Cardozo DL.
Functional Neuroanatomy: An Interactive Text and Manual.
New York, NY
John Wiley & Sons, 2004
592 pp, $67.95.
Most would agree that the brain is overwhelming in its complexity and is not subject matter that is easily mastered or taught. Moreover, specific interests in the central nervous system vary widely, and its study takes many forms, making it impossible to please every reader with a single text. Some will have interest in the behavioral aspects of psychiatric diseases; others want to concentrate on brain development; still others concern themselves with neoplastic diseases. For nearly all pursuits, the student, investigator, and practitioner must have well-grounded knowledge of basic neuroanatomy and its functional correlates.
Functional Neuroanatomy: An Interactive Text and Manual is a 592-page, hefty paperback that tries a new angle for teaching human neuroanatomy as it relates to nervous system function and disease. It has the lofty goal to "bring to life" clinical neuroscience. The book is a laboratory-based guide to human neuroanatomy and states that it is aimed at students of all types. It also claims that it could be read as a stand-alone guide to the brain. Taking nothing away from this highly original text, both of these claims are stretches. Overall, the book "feels" like an instructional manual for a specific medical school laboratory course led by popular teachers. The intellectual source is a neuroanatomy lecture and laboratory series at Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA), and reading it gives the clear impression that it is intended for first-year medical students who are attending class and actively working through the dissection of a human brain in front of them. The laboratory nature is readily apparent in chapter 1 (gross anatomy), in which safety issues about handling brain tissue are emphasized in capitalized letters (wear gloves and absolutely no eating!).
Most chapters follow a similar format that is meant to engage the reader in active participation in their learning. The authors correctly believe that the subject matter of the brain is just too complex for passive reading. Each of the 18 chapters contains learning objectives, a brief introduction, a discussion, notes to the instructor, and a question and answer section. Much of the didactic material is contained within the answers that immediately follow the questions of this section. This approach to reading and learning is highly personal, and although it does not suit me, I can appreciate its merits. Interspersed within the text are many black and white photographs of gross anatomy, histologic features, and neuroimaging. There also are numerous interactive exercises that require the reader to label nervous system structures, trace the pathways of neural circuitry, or fill in responses to queries. Clinical cases at the end of each chapter emphasize the neuroimaging and symptoms that arise from pathologic insult to the anatomic structures previously studied. For example, in chapter 6 on craniosensory systems, the 3 cases included a herniated disk, a lateral medullary infarct, and a posterior column deficit arising from repeated surgeries. Each nicely illustrated the neuroimaging or pathologic findings and related them to the sensory deficits experienced by the patient.
The strengths of this book are found with the chapters captured by the title, Functional Neuroanatomy. These fall within the category of "systems neuroscience" and include somatosensory, craniosensory, vision and hearing, neuromuscular, basal ganglia, cerebellum, brainstem, cranial nerves, hypothalamus, limbic system, and cortex. The authors recognize this emphasis and refer to the more introductory chapters that cover anatomy, histologic features, and imaging as "appetizers for the main course." It is here in the systems chapters that the authors are on familiar ground and their writing demonstrates experience with the subject matter, provides meaningful anecdotes, and most important, accomplishes the goal of bringing the subject matter to life. The introduction in each of these chapters uses a combination of traditional teaching points and new approaches to introduce topics. For example, the chapter on cranial nerves uses the relatively simple neuroanatomy of evolutionarily old fish to demonstrate the more complex distribution of cranial nerve nuclei within the human brainstem. The authors emphasize here and elsewhere that the memorization of arcane facts will not (and need not) be preserved, but that central concepts of neurologic disorders need to be retained. The exercises introduced in these challenging chapters on structure-function relationships are wonderful tools for pulling the reader into the material. As a person who has read numerous texts and articles on the nervous system, I cannot remember a more cogent discussion of the structure, interconnections, and function of the limbic system than that in chapter 14 of this text.
Of course, a book review needs to provide at least some constructive criticism, and there is some room for it here. The weaknesses are found mostly in the overall format of the text. The book is sometimes cumbersome because the reader is asked to refer to illustrations variously located in separate brain atlases, at the back of the book, available online, or sometimes found within the text on the previous pages. Second, while normal anatomy, histologic features, and imaging are covered at the beginning of the book, we have to wait until chapter 16 to learn about normal development. I would argue that central nervous system anatomy is best understood in the context of its development and that this chapter belongs earlier in the text. There also is some awkwardness and redundancy in the content found within the appendices and within the chapters. This is most obvious in the neuroimaging sections. Neuroimaging has become the new gross anatomy of the central nervous system, and the authors provide ample coverage of current modalities such as computed tomography scans, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography scans. The coverage of this subject is split into chapter 4 and appendix IV with no great rationale. Both are extremely well written and at a comfortable level for the reader, but why split them?
There also is some unevenness of coverage in the text, especially in the introductory chapters. In the chapter on histologic features, there are excellent discussions of nerve and muscle, cerebellum, and spinal cord. But where is the discussion of the 6 layers of the cerebral cortex that covers more than 95% of the human brain? Where is the hippocampus, the old friend of neuroanatomists and neuropathologists? We are not formally introduced to these structures until chapter 15 on the cerebral cortex, which is a little late. There are references to the histologic features of the primary visual cortex in chapter 7 (vision and hearing) without the proper orientation to the normal neocortex.
Overall, this text achieves its goal of bringing the study of the human neurosciences to life. It is aimed at medical students who are working their way through the complexities of the brain for the first time and have a human brain for their study in a laboratory setting. For these individuals, the text will drive home fundamental concepts in a manner that will result in a solid retention of basic neuroscience principles. Its fresh approach to nervous system anatomy also might be appreciated by neuroanatomists, neuroscientists, and neuropathologists. It will be of limited appeal to practicing clinicians and general pathologists who will not find the dissection methods familiar or take the time to engage in the exercises.
Joseph JT, Cardozo DL.
Functional Neuroanatomy: An Interactive Text and Manual.
New York, NY
John Wiley & Sons, 2004
592 pp, $67.95.
Most would agree that the brain is overwhelming in its complexity and is not subject matter that is easily mastered or taught. Moreover, specific interests in the central nervous system vary widely, and its study takes many forms, making it impossible to please every reader with a single text. Some will have interest in the behavioral aspects of psychiatric diseases; others want to concentrate on brain development; still others concern themselves with neoplastic diseases. For nearly all pursuits, the student, investigator, and practitioner must have well-grounded knowledge of basic neuroanatomy and its functional correlates.
Functional Neuroanatomy: An Interactive Text and Manual is a 592-page, hefty paperback that tries a new angle for teaching human neuroanatomy as it relates to nervous system function and disease. It has the lofty goal to "bring to life" clinical neuroscience. The book is a laboratory-based guide to human neuroanatomy and states that it is aimed at students of all types. It also claims that it could be read as a stand-alone guide to the brain. Taking nothing away from this highly original text, both of these claims are stretches. Overall, the book "feels" like an instructional manual for a specific medical school laboratory course led by popular teachers. The intellectual source is a neuroanatomy lecture and laboratory series at Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA), and reading it gives the clear impression that it is intended for first-year medical students who are attending class and actively working through the dissection of a human brain in front of them. The laboratory nature is readily apparent in chapter 1 (gross anatomy), in which safety issues about handling brain tissue are emphasized in capitalized letters (wear gloves and absolutely no eating!).
Most chapters follow a similar format that is meant to engage the reader in active participation in their learning. The authors correctly believe that the subject matter of the brain is just too complex for passive reading. Each of the 18 chapters contains learning objectives, a brief introduction, a discussion, notes to the instructor, and a question and answer section. Much of the didactic material is contained within the answers that immediately follow the questions of this section. This approach to reading and learning is highly personal, and although it does not suit me, I can appreciate its merits. Interspersed within the text are many black and white photographs of gross anatomy, histologic features, and neuroimaging. There also are numerous interactive exercises that require the reader to label nervous system structures, trace the pathways of neural circuitry, or fill in responses to queries. Clinical cases at the end of each chapter emphasize the neuroimaging and symptoms that arise from pathologic insult to the anatomic structures previously studied. For example, in chapter 6 on craniosensory systems, the 3 cases included a herniated disk, a lateral medullary infarct, and a posterior column deficit arising from repeated surgeries. Each nicely illustrated the neuroimaging or pathologic findings and related them to the sensory deficits experienced by the patient.
The strengths of this book are found with the chapters captured by the title, Functional Neuroanatomy. These fall within the category of "systems neuroscience" and include somatosensory, craniosensory, vision and hearing, neuromuscular, basal ganglia, cerebellum, brainstem, cranial nerves, hypothalamus, limbic system, and cortex. The authors recognize this emphasis and refer to the more introductory chapters that cover anatomy, histologic features, and imaging as "appetizers for the main course." It is here in the systems chapters that the authors are on familiar ground and their writing demonstrates experience with the subject matter, provides meaningful anecdotes, and most important, accomplishes the goal of bringing the subject matter to life. The introduction in each of these chapters uses a combination of traditional teaching points and new approaches to introduce topics. For example, the chapter on cranial nerves uses the relatively simple neuroanatomy of evolutionarily old fish to demonstrate the more complex distribution of cranial nerve nuclei within the human brainstem. The authors emphasize here and elsewhere that the memorization of arcane facts will not (and need not) be preserved, but that central concepts of neurologic disorders need to be retained. The exercises introduced in these challenging chapters on structure-function relationships are wonderful tools for pulling the reader into the material. As a person who has read numerous texts and articles on the nervous system, I cannot remember a more cogent discussion of the structure, interconnections, and function of the limbic system than that in chapter 14 of this text.
Of course, a book review needs to provide at least some constructive criticism, and there is some room for it here. The weaknesses are found mostly in the overall format of the text. The book is sometimes cumbersome because the reader is asked to refer to illustrations variously located in separate brain atlases, at the back of the book, available online, or sometimes found within the text on the previous pages. Second, while normal anatomy, histologic features, and imaging are covered at the beginning of the book, we have to wait until chapter 16 to learn about normal development. I would argue that central nervous system anatomy is best understood in the context of its development and that this chapter belongs earlier in the text. There also is some awkwardness and redundancy in the content found within the appendices and within the chapters. This is most obvious in the neuroimaging sections. Neuroimaging has become the new gross anatomy of the central nervous system, and the authors provide ample coverage of current modalities such as computed tomography scans, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography scans. The coverage of this subject is split into chapter 4 and appendix IV with no great rationale. Both are extremely well written and at a comfortable level for the reader, but why split them?
There also is some unevenness of coverage in the text, especially in the introductory chapters. In the chapter on histologic features, there are excellent discussions of nerve and muscle, cerebellum, and spinal cord. But where is the discussion of the 6 layers of the cerebral cortex that covers more than 95% of the human brain? Where is the hippocampus, the old friend of neuroanatomists and neuropathologists? We are not formally introduced to these structures until chapter 15 on the cerebral cortex, which is a little late. There are references to the histologic features of the primary visual cortex in chapter 7 (vision and hearing) without the proper orientation to the normal neocortex.
Overall, this text achieves its goal of bringing the study of the human neurosciences to life. It is aimed at medical students who are working their way through the complexities of the brain for the first time and have a human brain for their study in a laboratory setting. For these individuals, the text will drive home fundamental concepts in a manner that will result in a solid retention of basic neuroscience principles. Its fresh approach to nervous system anatomy also might be appreciated by neuroanatomists, neuroscientists, and neuropathologists. It will be of limited appeal to practicing clinicians and general pathologists who will not find the dissection methods familiar or take the time to engage in the exercises.
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