Core Ideas in Neuroscience

Everybody needs to know something about their brain. But who wants to wade through a tedious textbook that tells you far more than you want to know? This Core Ideas of Neuroscience also probably tells you more than you want to know too. But it does not cost anywhere near the $100 or more you would spend for a traditional text. Moreover, my book is organized as modules explaining the basic principles of 75 core ideas. You don’t have to wade through it. You can dance through it, easily getting up to speed on just the few ideas you may need to know about at the moment.

The book is intended for learners new to the field, and for professionals in other disciplines who need to be informed by neuroscience without being overwhelmed by it. The author is a lay-audience writer who has over 50 years of neuroscience research and teaching experience and has published numerous peer-reviewed papers across the span of the discipline, from membrane biochemistry to human cognition.

This 2nd edition of a complete, hyperlinked, introductory neuroscience textbook (>100,000 words, over 350 pdf pages), yet condensed to focus on over 75 core ideas spanning the entire discipline. Concept maps show relationships of related ideas. Each idea is succinctly stated, explained, and illustrated with examples. Related core ideas are identified. References include “citation classics,” papers that helped create the scientific basis for the core idea. A glossary defines key terms.