Arthropod Brains: Evolution, Functional Elegance, and Historical Significance
This is a remarkable contribution to the literature of neuroscience. Strausfeld is probably the only neuroanatomist alive who is steeped in the history of his field and who still passionately cares enough to have made what amount to pilgrimages to the home countries and laboratories of the founders of the field—to see for himself what still remained and what could be recovered of the past masters. He recounts these adventures with a dry, wry wit and is not afraid to revise accepted versions of history and reputations. The visual presentation of the subject through spectacularly stunning images is what sets this book apart from any other I know of. Strausfeld's book is a testament to the visionary pioneers of comparative neuroanatomy and will serve future generations of neuroscientists as a touchstone for the remarkable history of the field of functional anatomy. I am confident that his book will stand as a reference for decades to come. (Ronald R. Hoy, Merksamer Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University)This work is unlike anything else in the current or historical literature. There are interesting reviews and compilations that take, for example, an evo-devo view of the nervous system, but nothing that speaks so directly to neuroscientists while also challenging insect systematists… I am also not familiar with any work that makes crustacean neuroanatomy so accessible to insect neurobiologists (those who study crustaceans will surely feel that the author is a champion of their discipline after reading this work). (Susan E. Fahrbach, Reynolds Professor of Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Biology, Wake Forest University)