In our attempts to interrogate Nature about the development of the nervous system, we ask such questions as "How do the nerve cells originate and how do the correct types of cells differentiate at their correct positions; how do the neurons link together to form circuits whose functions are properly coordinated; and how are the functions of nerve cells related to behavior, to thought, and to conscious ness?" Those problems are intellectually challenging, not only because solving them would give us practical advantages but also because while they remain unsolved they stimulate the imagination and challenge the intelligence. It is precisely because they are difficult and controversial and have defied complete solution that such problems continue to attract subtle minds. The understanding that we now have of neural ontogeny seems to me to be farther from complete knowledge than from total ignorance. Nonetheless, it gives us a slightly elevated position from which to survey the vicissitudes of the past, to appraise our present understanding, and to consider ways in which our knowl edge might develop in the future. The history of this subject affords a particularly piquant illustration of Arthur Lovejoy's comment that the "adequate record of even the confusions of our forebears may help, not only to clarify those confu sions, but to engender a salutary doubt whether we are wholly immune from different but equally great confusions.
Developmental Neurobiology provides an up-to-date survey of the cellular events and the molecular contributors that contribute to the assembly of the vertebrate nervous system. The text will serve as a readily tractable source for advanced undergraduate neuroscience majors and beginning graduate students who will benefit from a single source to begin their study of a more detailed understanding of neural development. Each chapter is peppered with a sound mixture of historical context and descriptions from both the vertebrate and invertebrate literature that best illustrate specific aspects of development. The liberal use of simple diagrams and tables, which readily illustrate complex issues, is a welcome addition for instructor and student alike.
While classic topics of neural development, including axial patterning, cell proliferation, migration, cell death and synapse formation are covered, of particular interest are subjects that oftentimes received superficial coverage in texts, including separate, detailed chapters on oligodendrocyte and astrocyte development, and developmental mechanisms that relate to the process of aging. Multi-authored texts are often tricky to assemble for consistency, but Developmental Neurobiology succeeds in providing a sound introduction to the most exciting questions that neuroscientists will address experimentally for years to come.
Pat Levitt, Ph.D., Director, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Professor of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
When the inaugural edition of Developmental Neurobiology appeared in 1970, it was the first attempt to comprehensively assess our understanding of neuronal development since the publication of S.R. Detwiler’s book Neuroembryology in 1936. Although progress had been made in the intervening 34 years, the author, Marcus Jacobson, was correct in noting that in 1970 "most aspects of neural ontogeny could be surveyed at a glance". In contrast, by the time the 3rd edition appeared in 1991, the size of the book had increased by 40% and the number of references cited went from around 2,000 to over 8,000. Since 1991, however, the field has grown at an even more rapid rate and has now reached a point that makes it virtually impossible for a single individual to comprehensively and authoritatively assess the entire gamut of neural ontogeny.
Before his death in 2001, Jacobson together with the co-editor of the present edition, M. Rao, conceived the plan for a 4th edition that would be multiauthored with each chapter being written by experts in a sub-field. Although one of the joys of reading the previous three editions was the consistency of Jacobson’s inimitable prose style, in the present book there remains a smoothness and consistency of style that is unusual and refreshing in a multiauthored text. In 14 chapters that begins with neural induction and ends with developmental mechanisms of aging, virtually all of the major topics of neural development are discussed in a clear and coherent fashion and with the aid of ample illustrations. The inclusion of historical antecedents , past and present controversies, technical and conceptual advances together with a comprehensive discussion of each topic all add up to an excellent assessment of the field as it enters the 21st century. Although one misses the Jacobsonian idiosyncrasies of previous editions, the 4th edition is a fitting legacy of Marcus Jacobson’s four decades of empirical and pedagogical contributions to developmental neurobiology.
Ronald W. Oppenheim, Ph.D., Neuroscience Program, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
