I start my M.Sc. in neuroscience in about a month's time. The recommended text is Principles of Neural Science, by Kandel, Schwartz and Jessel. It's a great book that I'll get round to buying one day, but, because I'm on a limited budget, I'll have to make do with the abridged version, Essentials of Neural Science and Behavior, and Fundamental Neuroscience, by Zigmond, et al., both of which have been sitting on a shelf at my mother's house for a few years.
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I'm sure this goes without saying, but 'Principles' is worth every penny! I finished my degree a while ago but I still find myself dipping into it on occasion.
Is it a text book that would be useful for the lay person who is interested in neuroscience?
joltvolta - I don't think a layperson interested in neuroscience would find any of these texts too useful. Try something by Oliver Sacks, Antonio Damasio or V.S. Ramachandran.
I would love to see a post about how to prepare to study neuroscience formally. Would the purchase of one of these textbooks help with that?
I recently graduated with my first undergraduate degree and am looking at neuroscience as a possible pathway for future degrees, but I'm finding it difficult to really find a place to start. Other people seem to be having the same sort of difficulty.
I have Kandel but haven't finished reading it. Man, that thing is slow going. And I think the word "textbook" is misleading when applied to certain advanced science texts. . . Kandel is one of them. It's really more like a reader on ALL important topics in neuroscience. I used to break it out to show my students that a "textbook" in graduate school is not the same thing as a "textbook" for undergraduates. (Not that you couldn't use Kandel for undergrads, but darn, I'd kill to teach at a school that has a lecture's worth of biology undergrads that could handle it. . .)
I second Josh's request. I'm intending to commence a Bachelor's degree in Behavioural Neuroscience in a couple of years (I'm currently studying Psych) but I'd like to hear how you and others go about their formal studies, undergrad and beyond.