Who's Who of the Brain: A Guide to Its Inhabitants, Where they Live and What they Do

Abstract

The human brain has been described as the most complex structure in the universe, so complex that it is beyond the ability of the human brain to understand. This book is written, more than a little ambitiously, in an attempt to achieve the seemingly impossible. It is perhaps a little arrogant of us to hold out hope that in less than 300 pages we can make sense of the mysterious workings of 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) and the one thousand connections for each such cell (making 100 trillion connections). And we won't even do more than mention in passing that each neuron is supported by glial cells of which there are more than 100 billion! We hope that what follows will offer at least some understanding for those who know little or nothing of the workings of the brain, who find the brain a complete, inaccessible, and somewhat frightening mystery. We also hope that those who do have some familiarity with the brain and its functions, whatever their professional background, will gain more knowledge and further insights into how to apply such awareness in everyday clinical practice. As for those already expert in this area, we hope they will enjoy our conceptualisation of this most fascinating of structures, and perhaps make use of it in their teachings to those less knowledgeable than themselves.