Molecular biology of the neuron - R. Wayne Davies

Nerve cells - neurons - are arguably the most complex of all cells. From the action of these cells comes movement, thought and consciousness. It is a challenging task to understand what molecules direct the various diverse aspects of their function. This has produced an ever-increasing amount of molecular information about neurons, and only in Molecular Biology of the Neuron can a large part of this information be found in one source. In this book, a non-specialistcan learn about the molecules that control information flow in the brain or the progress of brain disease in an approachable format, while the expert has access to a wealth of detailed information from a wide range of topics impacting on his or her field of endeavour. The text is designed to achieve abalance of accessibility and broad coverage with up-to-date molecular detail. In the six years since the first edition of Molecular Biology of the Neuron there has been an explosion in the molecular information about neurons that has been discovered, and this information is incorporated into this second edition. Entirely new chapters have been introduced where recent advances have made a new aspect of neuronal function more comprehensible at the molecular level. Written by leading researchers in the field, the book provides an essential overview of the molecularstructure and function of neurons, and will be an invaluable tool to students and researchers alike.

It is always difficult to ensure a uniform standard of writing from a diverse group of authors, but these editors seem to have achieved it.
Thus, each of the chapters provides a useful review of current knowledge of molecular data relating to neurons . . . will be appreciated by those in clinical systems or cellular neuroscience . . . it is unfair to pick out particular chapters for mention, since all of them are well constructed.
Physiology News, Number 56