The Human Brain: A Guided Tour (Science Masters Series)
This set of five essays stems from the 1994 Royal Institute Christmas Lectures, filmed and later televised by the BBC. Greenfield, a science writer and professor of pharmacology at Lincoln College in Oxford, presents a survey of the brain that is intended for a general adult readership. Offering both a "top-down" and "bottom-up" approach, Greenfield examines movement and vision to illustrate how various brain functions might be localized, and she describes how neurons communicate and how this activity can be modified by drugs. She also discusses the development of the human brain from conception to birth and speculates on how experience can modify this brain to create a unique individual. Finally, in her explanation of how memory is laid down, the author touches on a physical basis for the mind. Greenfield presents a number of sophisticated concepts in a lively and very comprehensible style. Her book will provide a useful introduction to the brain in both academic and public libraries.?Laurie Bartolini, Legislative Research, Springfield, Ill.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.