The Brain Book: Development, Function, Disorder, Health

The brain (and mental health) is the most important medical issue of our time.

Just two handfuls in size and made of billions of nerve and ganglial cells, the living brain controls our thoughts, movements, behavior and emotions. It is the seat of our consciousness, yet scientists are still discovering how the living brain actually works.

The Brain Book combines the latest image technology with easy-to-understand authoritative text. Written by an international team of medical experts on brain science, it covers all aspects of brain function, from development and disorders, to the nature of consciousness, through to the aging brain and brain diseases. Topics include brain chemistry, memory, the teenage brain, illusions and hallucinations, music and the brain, sleep and wakefulness, anesthetics, degenerative brain disease and much more.

The book is organized into nine sections:

• Structure and Function
• Development
• The Senses
• Movement and Actions
• The Social Brain
• Mind, Consciousness, Mood and Psychosis
• Brain Plasticity, Injury and Repair
• Drugs and the Brain
• Aging and Disease

The Brain Book is a complete guide to the amazingly complex and intriguing structure that is the human brain. It is an essential reference for any library.

Ken Ashwell, BMedSc, MB, BS, PhD, is Professor of Anatomy in the School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He was also the Chief Consultant for Anatomy Colour-in Flash Cards and The Human Body Identification Manual.