This huge book (1,675 pages, 112 chapters and 13 associate editors,) is a companion to the editors’ previous two-volume text, The Visual Neurosciences (MIT Press, 2003). Why this focus on vision? The visual system is not only the model system for neuroscience (the retina is formed from the neural ectoderm), but we also get almost all of our knowledge of the external world from visual percepts. The chapter authors are a veritable “who’s who” of visual neuroscientists. Major additions to the book include sections on invertebrate vision, theoretical perspectives, molecular biology and translational vision research. Each chapter is well illustrated, with many illustrations in color. This book belongs in the collection of every serious student or researcher in vision and neuroscience.
Review by Vasudevan Lakshminarayanan, professor of optometry, physics and electrical and computer engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada.
he opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.