ISBN0716711877

This textbook provides a thorough introduction to the brain, starting from the nerves to actual sensory systems (motor, auditory, visual etc.,). Even though I spent some time reading this book, I was disappointed the professor only referred to it once or twice and relied primarily on lectures to create tests. Besides providing the mechanism behind the flow of information in the brain, its discussion of how injuries to the brain result in certain conditions (visual agnosia, neglect syndrome, amnesia, aphasia etc.,) also helped my understanding of the material a lot. The biggest hurdle is understanding how nerves function, after that everything is more or less memorization.

Within the first two chapters, there are a number of misleading claims and outright falsehoods which make me question the intelligence and qualifications of its authors. They claim, for instance, that the brain's purpose is to create what the authors call a "sensory reality" (I can only assume they mean consciousness). Well, the fact is, a lot of good neurology and philosophy dealing with the subject matter is simply not clear on this matter--consciousness is likely to be an epiphenomenon not related too much to function. In fact, there are some studies that point to this possibility--being able to tell when a person will move their finger before they even realize it.
Another example of shoddy scholarship is found in the first and second chapters, respectively: Ironically, the authors discredit cartesian dualism in the first chapter rather offhandedly only to bring it back in the second. To quote the book, "Each function requires specific neural systems to create the sensory world, to produce movement (behavior) and to integrate the two." If they are separate, we seem to be back at some form of dualism--I'm not sure what the authors were thinking and I'm not sure they do either.

Consistent flaws coupled with a writing style that is downright insulting to the reader's intelligence make this a book to skip (if possible) when first learning about the brain and behavior.

This was a required text for a psychology course on brain and behavior (a/k/a physiological psychology). I don't know if it was the instructor or the book or both, but this text was not one of my favorites in college. The chapters are too long, and talk about being verbose...the points in each chapter should be more concise and to the point. Overall, not the best text, but if you like dry reading this book is for you. I ended up getting an "A" in the course, but I believe that's only because I was a senior nursing student at the time and already had a solid foundation in brain anatomy and physiology and human behavior.