#000553
The Brain (A Scientific American Book)
Scientific American (editors)
A landmark popular-science volume gathering the eleven articles that made up *Scientific American*'s celebrated September 1979 single-topic issue on the brain. Written by leading neuroscientists of the day — including figures such as Francis Crick, David Hubel, and Torsten Wiesel — and richly illustrated, the collection surveys the brain from the molecular and cellular level up through perception, movement, development, and the biology of thought. It captured a moment when neuroscience was consolidating into a mature discipline and translating its findings for a broad, curious audience. Clear, authoritative, and handsomely produced by W. H. Freeman, it became a widely assigned introduction for students and general readers alike. Even decades on, it stands as a vivid snapshot of what the science of the brain understood — and still hoped to learn — at the end of the 1970s.
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The authors
The Brain collects work by an all-star roster of neuroscientists writing for Scientific American's September 1979 issue, among them Francis Crick, David H. Hubel, Torsten N. Wiesel, and other prominent researchers. Several would go on to Nobel recognition; the lineup reflects the field's leading edge at the time.
The book
Published in 1979 by W. H. Freeman, The Brain: A Scientific American Book reprints the eleven articles of that famous single-subject issue as a bound volume of roughly 150 pages. It moves systematically from neurons and neurotransmitters through vision, movement, and higher functions, with the magazine's hallmark diagrams and photography.
How it has aged
As an artifact it is superb; as current science it is dated. The core anatomy and much of the sensory physiology remain sound, but the intervening decades of imaging (fMRI, PET), molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience have transformed the field beyond what this volume could anticipate. Read it for its clarity and as a benchmark of late-1970s understanding, then supplement with modern texts.
For more context
Pair with a current neuroscience primer such as Kandel's Principles of Neural Science for how far the field has moved.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Scientific American (editors)
- Publisher
- W. H. Freeman and Company
- Place of publication
- San Francisco
- Year
- 1979
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Science
- Location
- Colorado