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Ask HN: What is a good introduction to neuroscience?

22 points by wynand 18y ago

I could just browse reviews on Amazon.com to find a good introductory book on neuroscience. But I want something that's both good and appeals to a technical mind. Which books do you recommend?

aswanson 18y ago
Robg, are you out there?
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- robg 18y ago
  You called? :)
  - aswanson 18y ago
    Seems like you would have the best answer for this one, mate. Have at it.
    - robg 18y ago
      As you can see in my reply, I wish there was a simple answer. But I'm afraid the field is so young there really isn't a great general purpose read. The more popular ones leave me wanting. The more research oriented ones are a slog. The problem is, I think, that the field is so young relative to something like physics so the general themes are hard to discern for everyone involved - generalists and specialists - to relay out to a wide audience.
ljlolel 18y ago
I worked at a neuroscience lab for a bit. I was focusing on EEG, the signals, oscillations, and emergent patterns in the brain. For this, they highly recommended I read Buzsaki's Rhythms of the Brain: http://www.amazon.com/Rhythms-Brain-Gyorgy-Buzsaki/dp/0195301064 http://www.amazon.com/Rhythms-Brain-Gyorgy-Buzsaki/dp/019530... .
nonrecursive 18y ago
Mapping the Mind is a fun book. It probably doesn't serve as an introduction to neuroscience, but it has a lot interesting, useful information.
robg 18y ago
Could you be more specific? Are you looking for a populist read, a textbook, or an anthology of review articles? Straight up neuroscience is usually lower-level or a more cognitive/psychology high-level slant too? Research oriented or general principles or abstract ideas? Your purposes might also help. There's been good work done on Bayes and datamining and I think some has made it into a book format.
- wynand 18y ago
  I need a textbook - I'm looking for something that would be given to first year Neuroscience students. I would prefer something low-level, but it would be nice if the book ties high-level concepts to the low-level concepts. I've wanted to do a Ph.D. for some time, but neither pure CS nor pure Maths (I have a masters in the latter) excites me anymore. Neuroscience interests me, but I want to make sure that I'm not deluding myself; therefore I'd like to work through a proper introductory text before making the next move. EDIT: Listened to my inner grammar Nazi and fixed capitalization & sentences.
  - robg 18y ago
    Okay, that helps, thanks. For neuroscience first-year grad students, the gold standard is: http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/dp/0838577016 http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/... The fourth edition does a good job at higher-level stuff. But be forewarned: It is biology intensive. For less biology and more cognitive neuroscience, you can try: http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Second-Michael-Gazzaniga/dp/0393977773 http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Second-Michael-... or http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Neuropsychology-Student-Text/dp/0618122109/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225647507&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Neuropsychology... I used the Gazzaniga when I taught Intro to Cognitive Neuroscience even as I wasn't super impressed (which is a common complaint - tolerance, not true acceptance). I know some folks like the Banich book instead. If, with your Math background, you're interested in neural computation and modeling there are also some good books along those lines. Just let me know and I'll hunt down the links.
toddml 18y ago
My undergrad neuroscience textbook was the classic "Principles Of Neural Science" by Kandell, Schwartz, and Jessell. http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/dp/0838577016 http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/... If you're looking for something a bit more digestable, you could try "Biological Psychology: An Introduction to Behavioral, Cognitive, and Clinical Neuroscience", which is more appropriate for a survey level (100, 1000, depending on your school) course. http://www.amazon.com/Biological-Psychology-Introduction-Behavioral-Neuroscience/dp/0878937056/ http://www.amazon.com/Biological-Psychology-Introduction-Beh...
- robg 18y ago
  Upvote for Kandell, not BioPsych. The latter just emphasizes the wrong things and too broadly.
  - jackchristopher 18y ago
    What about MITECS? [1] Is it outdated? Eliezer Yudkowsky recommended it[2]. But I'm not sure if he still would. I know you work at MIT, what do you use? [1] http://www.amazon.com/MIT-Encyclopedia-Cognitive-Sciences-MITECS/dp/0262731444 http://www.amazon.com/MIT-Encyclopedia-Cognitive-Sciences-MI... [2] http://sl4.org/wiki/MITECS http://sl4.org/wiki/MITECS
    - robg 18y ago
      That's just a reference volume. It's fine for what it is, but really as a launching off point for specific topics. And reading it cover to cover would get old, fast.
- sgrove 18y ago
  I'd second principles of neural science, though that's with the expectation that the reader has the appropriate background in basic chemistry, biology, and maybe anatomy. Out of the dozens of books I have on neurosci, that's probably the single most comprehensive.
psyklic 18y ago
I'm a computational PhD student in the field -- I think you'd most enjoy "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins, an inspiring book written by a hacker himself! If you'd like a very excellent, fascinating title on mathematics and art and mind, try "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Hofstadter. Another fun, classical book with more of an AI bend is "Society of Mind" by Marvin Minsky. For more classical neuroscience, "Phantoms of the Brain" by Ramachandran, well-known in perception research, is good. I haven't read it, but "In Search of Memory" is supposed to be excellent by Kandel, a memory researcher superstar. (I've found that many of the books by non-scientists about the brain are often shallow, claim to know too much, and use the same familiar stories over and over.) For neuroscience at a lower level (i.e. the biology of neurons, neural networks, cells), I'm not aware of a good popular account. I also recommend picking up a copy of Mind magazine from your bookstore! And if you can get a copy of a Scientific American magazine special on the brain (every few years I believe), those are usually very well written as well :-)
- PieSquared 18y ago
  I second that. "On Intelligence" is a great book, and although I like physics and CS more than biology, it has seriously caused me to think of pursuing a career in neuroscience, simply because it shows how little we truly know about ourselves.
markessien 18y ago
If you want to develop new ideas, do so before you read many books, otherwise your ideas will never break out of the orthodoxy.
wynand 18y ago
Thank you all for your excellent answers. I just bought Principles of Neural Science (it's pretty damn expensive in South Africa), but I'll look at almost everything else mentioned here. HN is awesome.

22 points by wynand 18y ago

I could just browse reviews on Amazon.com to find a good introductory book on neuroscience. But I want something that's both good and appeals to a technical mind. Which books do you recommend?

aswanson 18y ago

Robg, are you out there?

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
robg 18y ago
You called? :)
- aswanson 18y ago
  Seems like you would have the best answer for this one, mate. Have at it.
  - robg 18y ago
    As you can see in my reply, I wish there was a simple answer. But I'm afraid the field is so young there really isn't a great general purpose read. The more popular ones leave me wanting. The more research oriented ones are a slog. The problem is, I think, that the field is so young relative to something like physics so the general themes are hard to discern for everyone involved - generalists and specialists - to relay out to a wide audience.

ljlolel 18y ago

I worked at a neuroscience lab for a bit. I was focusing on EEG, the signals, oscillations, and emergent patterns in the brain. For this, they highly recommended I read Buzsaki's Rhythms of the Brain: http://www.amazon.com/Rhythms-Brain-Gyorgy-Buzsaki/dp/0195301064 http://www.amazon.com/Rhythms-Brain-Gyorgy-Buzsaki/dp/019530... .

nonrecursive 18y ago

Mapping the Mind is a fun book. It probably doesn't serve as an introduction to neuroscience, but it has a lot interesting, useful information.

robg 18y ago

Could you be more specific? Are you looking for a populist read, a textbook, or an anthology of review articles? Straight up neuroscience is usually lower-level or a more cognitive/psychology high-level slant too? Research oriented or general principles or abstract ideas? Your purposes might also help. There's been good work done on Bayes and datamining and I think some has made it into a book format.

wynand 18y ago
I need a textbook - I'm looking for something that would be given to first year Neuroscience students. I would prefer something low-level, but it would be nice if the book ties high-level concepts to the low-level concepts. I've wanted to do a Ph.D. for some time, but neither pure CS nor pure Maths (I have a masters in the latter) excites me anymore. Neuroscience interests me, but I want to make sure that I'm not deluding myself; therefore I'd like to work through a proper introductory text before making the next move. EDIT: Listened to my inner grammar Nazi and fixed capitalization & sentences.
- robg 18y ago
  Okay, that helps, thanks. For neuroscience first-year grad students, the gold standard is: http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/dp/0838577016 http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/... The fourth edition does a good job at higher-level stuff. But be forewarned: It is biology intensive. For less biology and more cognitive neuroscience, you can try: http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Second-Michael-Gazzaniga/dp/0393977773 http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Second-Michael-... or http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Neuropsychology-Student-Text/dp/0618122109/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225647507&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Neuropsychology... I used the Gazzaniga when I taught Intro to Cognitive Neuroscience even as I wasn't super impressed (which is a common complaint - tolerance, not true acceptance). I know some folks like the Banich book instead. If, with your Math background, you're interested in neural computation and modeling there are also some good books along those lines. Just let me know and I'll hunt down the links.

toddml 18y ago

My undergrad neuroscience textbook was the classic "Principles Of Neural Science" by Kandell, Schwartz, and Jessell. http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/dp/0838577016 http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/... If you're looking for something a bit more digestable, you could try "Biological Psychology: An Introduction to Behavioral, Cognitive, and Clinical Neuroscience", which is more appropriate for a survey level (100, 1000, depending on your school) course. http://www.amazon.com/Biological-Psychology-Introduction-Behavioral-Neuroscience/dp/0878937056/ http://www.amazon.com/Biological-Psychology-Introduction-Beh...

robg 18y ago
Upvote for Kandell, not BioPsych. The latter just emphasizes the wrong things and too broadly.
- jackchristopher 18y ago
  What about MITECS? [1] Is it outdated? Eliezer Yudkowsky recommended it[2]. But I'm not sure if he still would. I know you work at MIT, what do you use? [1] http://www.amazon.com/MIT-Encyclopedia-Cognitive-Sciences-MITECS/dp/0262731444 http://www.amazon.com/MIT-Encyclopedia-Cognitive-Sciences-MI... [2] http://sl4.org/wiki/MITECS http://sl4.org/wiki/MITECS
  - robg 18y ago
    That's just a reference volume. It's fine for what it is, but really as a launching off point for specific topics. And reading it cover to cover would get old, fast.
sgrove 18y ago
I'd second principles of neural science, though that's with the expectation that the reader has the appropriate background in basic chemistry, biology, and maybe anatomy. Out of the dozens of books I have on neurosci, that's probably the single most comprehensive.

psyklic 18y ago

I'm a computational PhD student in the field -- I think you'd most enjoy "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins, an inspiring book written by a hacker himself! If you'd like a very excellent, fascinating title on mathematics and art and mind, try "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Hofstadter. Another fun, classical book with more of an AI bend is "Society of Mind" by Marvin Minsky. For more classical neuroscience, "Phantoms of the Brain" by Ramachandran, well-known in perception research, is good. I haven't read it, but "In Search of Memory" is supposed to be excellent by Kandel, a memory researcher superstar. (I've found that many of the books by non-scientists about the brain are often shallow, claim to know too much, and use the same familiar stories over and over.) For neuroscience at a lower level (i.e. the biology of neurons, neural networks, cells), I'm not aware of a good popular account. I also recommend picking up a copy of Mind magazine from your bookstore! And if you can get a copy of a Scientific American magazine special on the brain (every few years I believe), those are usually very well written as well :-)

PieSquared 18y ago
I second that. "On Intelligence" is a great book, and although I like physics and CS more than biology, it has seriously caused me to think of pursuing a career in neuroscience, simply because it shows how little we truly know about ourselves.

markessien 18y ago

If you want to develop new ideas, do so before you read many books, otherwise your ideas will never break out of the orthodoxy.

wynand 18y ago

Thank you all for your excellent answers. I just bought Principles of Neural Science (it's pretty damn expensive in South Africa), but I'll look at almost everything else mentioned here. HN is awesome.