title: From Neuron to Brain: A Cellular and Molecular Approach to the Function of the Nervous System
author:  John G. Nicholls 
description: Up-to-date third edition which presents a coherant description of the nervous system from the perspective of modern work on molecular biology, cellular and developmental biology, biophysics, neurophysiology, neurochemistry and neuroanatomy. The scope of the book has been broadened with entirely new chapters on the biophysics and molecular biology of membrane channels, indirect mechanisms of synaptic transmission, the cellular and molecular biology of synaptic transmission, nervous system development, sensory receptors and systems, and motor systems. To accommodate this new information other subjects have been abbreviated or ammalgamated. Permeating the book are new concepts derived from experiments at the molecular level. Techniques such as patch clamping, gene cloning and expression, the use of monoclonal antibodies, and site-directed mutagenesis not only deepen but often simplify the presentation of topics related to signaling, synapse transmission, plasticity and development.
zlib_text: INTRODUCTION
  The functioning nervous system requires a hierarchical
  organization to carry out its activities. A simple reflex
  (e.g., touching a hot surface) involves incoming infor-
  mation from the periphery, some central processing, and
  a response. The incoming fibers are the afferent
  (sensory) fibers, the outgoing are the efferent (motor)
  fibers, and the central processing portions are the in-
  terneurons of the spinal cord (see Figure 2A).
  In order to go beyond the simple reflex state, more elab-
  orate central processing stations have evolved, creating
  functional systems — both sensory and motor. These
  involve nuclei of the CNS at the level of the brainstem
  and forebrain, and the connections between these
  nuclei. The axons connecting various nuclei usually run
  together, forming a distinct bundle of fibers, called a
  tract or pathway. Along their way, these axons may dis-
  tribute information to several other parts of the CNS by
  means of axon collaterals. In almost all functional
  system