Atlas of the Human Brain, Second Edition

by Jürgen K. Mai, George Paxinos, Joseph K. Assheuer

This is the second edition of this very successful Atlas that received the Award of Excellence from the American Association of Publishers and is the gold standard for human brain atlases. The new edition is completely redesigned, with additional magnetic resonance images, line drawings, and an extensively expanded section of coronal images. The number of hemisphere sections has been doubled, and all planes of sections are now available in 3-D models placed within the Talairach space. The format of the atlas has been enlarged and the information reorganized on the page for improved functionality. The completely revised and redesigned CD-ROM now comes standard with the book.

New to this
* Employs larger format for easier appreciation of delineations
* Shadings and second color make the line drawings easier to interpret
* Indicates the course of major blood vessels on the radiograms as well as the vascular domains of the brain arteries
* The myeloarchitectonic atlas contains 69 coronal diagrams depicting the entire hemisphere (cortex and subcortex)
* Mounts the drawings into the Talairach space

Additional material on the
Macroscopic
* Full color anatomical sections
* Drawings of anatomical sections colored for different tissues
* 3-D visualization of MRI
Myeloarchitectonic
* Includes original myelin stained sections, allowing overlay of delineations
* Links from myelin stained sections to Nissl stains
* Presents all relevant literature referring to the represented brain in full text, along with the figures and search functionality

Genres: Neuroscience, Medicine, Nonfiction

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For many readers, this might be a rather exotic book. However, for those who want a sense of the structure of the human brain, this is a fine resource. The title refers to this as an "atlas" of the human brain. And that it is! As the authors note: "The present book consists of a series of maps, each featuring. . .brain morphology and topography."

MRI technology allows for a better view of the human brain and makes this volume more helpful still. The Introduction (Chapter 1) emphasizes some realities--such as the fact that there is a fair amount of variability in individuals' brain structure; localization of brain function is another issue discussed here. Methodological issues are joined, too, in the Introduction. Chapter 2 focuses in more detail on materials and methods in the study of brain structure. Chapters 3 and 4 represent the heart of the book, an atlas of different parts of the brain.

Interested in the structure of the human brain? This is a handy resource if you wish to visualize the brain.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful large coil-bound atlas of sections in all essential anatomical planes, as well as stereotactic coordinates and accompanying labelled diagrams to mirror each plate. The only gaffe is occasional differences in magnification between these two lattermost items, and a set magnification across all of these. Would be nice to have a set of images from a more superficial view, coupled with ones at a greater magnification. This "zoom level" is precarious in that one can't quite picture each plate's orientation within the greater cerebrum, yet the resolving power isn't detailed enough to visualize tracts and nuclei in the utmost (ideal) detail. Nonetheless, this is a beautiful atlas and an excellent means for neuroanatomists to coreference the typical instructive neuroanatomical diagrams with actual tissue specimens. Would also benefit from tract staining and Golgi staining along with gross tissue imagery.