Book Description

"Functional neuroanatomy of the brain" gathers an immense material from different sources (books, papers, works of great neuroanatomists mentioned in the references etc.) and makes a precise and complete synthesis of the structure and functions of the brain, the most complex system in the universe. The book starts with the history of neuroscience, data and ideas referring to soul, mind and brain, the way they have been imagined and conceived by healers, witches and philosophers since old times. On the other hand the book aims at revealing some basic and recent data about mind and brain, making them accessible to students, doctors, psychologists, biologists and all those interested in this vast topic and research field - the brain - who are studying by themselves. The first volume of "Functional neuroanatomy of the brain" has eight chapters, as it follows: HISTORY OF THE BRAIN AND MIND, INTRODUCTION IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, MEDULLA OBLONGATA (OR BULB), PONS, MIDBRAIN, RETICULAR FORMATION, CEREBELLUM and DIENCEPHALON. The second part presents in nine chapters of detailed information: THE BASAL GANGLIA, LIMBIC LOBE AND LIMBIC SYSTEM, HIPPOCAMPAL FORMATION, AMYGDALA, OLFACTORY SYSTEM, GUSTATORY SYSTEM, FRONTAL LOBES, PARIETAL LOBE and TEMPORAL LOBES. At least the third part gathers essential information split in seven chapters: OCCIPITAL LOBE, WHITE MATTER OF CEREBRAL HEMISPHERE, CORPUS CALLOSUM, CEREBRAL CORTEX, VENTRICULAR SYSTEM AND MENINGES, CEREBRAL ASYMMETRY in nonhumans, THE NEURAL BASIS OF CONSCIOUSNESS. Even if this book is not written by a neuroanatomist, but it represents a textbook assembled by a genius of neurosurgery, with a huge professional experiences, Academician Professor Doctor Leon Danaila, who describes himself some reasons of this special work: "As a neurosurgeon who has performed over 40 000 surgeries on the central and peripheral nervous system during my 50 years of continuous neurosurgical activity, I can comprehend the structural and functional complexity of the brain. In order not to disturb the highly functional areas of the central nervous system, I was forced to get familiar with the details of the brain map, which, taking into consideration my experience, varies from individual to individual, and I can say that each person, healthy or sick, is unique. I have been an assiduous reader of many books and papers in order to have a better documentation in this area, but I could not find any manual or book to contain relatively complete and up-to-date information on the anatomy and physiology of the brain. The existing neuroanatomy textbooks are not thorough enough, in my opinion, as they do not explain the morphological and neurophysiological complexity of white and grey matter. To keep up with the vast literature in this research field, and with the investigations of the brain as a whole has been for me a real challenge or better said an impossible task, an unreachable goal. The clinical information has been of great help in understanding the basic scientific concepts and the way in which the central nervous system, especially the brain, operates and interacts in the presence of various internal and external harmful factors, or in abnormal, pathological situations. Publishing this book concurs with an enormous explosion of knowledge about the morphology and physiology of the central nervous system and its vast reciprocal connections and plasticity. Consequently, I found it hard to keep up with the multitude of works published during the past ten years about functional neuroimaging, neuropharmacology, computational modulation, rehabilitation methods, theories of thinking, of memory, attention, frontal functions, language etc., as well as the structures and the immense number of neural connections and columns that build them. I keep the doors open to corrections, additions and novelty and, why not, to reinterpretation. It's me who will do it or maybe others will do it better than I did."