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From the outset, MIT Professor Mark Bear’s vision for the textbook “Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain” was to offer an engaging and easily comprehensible introduction to the discipline while also providing undergraduates with a solid scientific basis. Over the 30 years since its initial release in 1995, the beloved 975-page volume has emerged as the foremost introductory neuroscience textbook, reaching hundreds of thousands of learners at numerous universities worldwide.
“We aim to convey the intricate science without complicating the science,” states Bear, the Picower Professor at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. The fifth edition of the textbook is published today by Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Bear explains that the book has been designed, composed, and illustrated to equip students with the current state of knowledge in the field without presupposing advanced scientific understanding. When he began writing it in the late 1980s—joined shortly by co-authors and former Brown University colleagues Barry Connors and Michael Paradiso—there were virtually no undergraduate neuroscience textbooks available. Until then, first as a graduate teaching assistant and later as a young professor, Bear had been teaching Brown’s pioneering introductory neuroscience course with a spiraled collection of photocopied articles and other gathered readings.
Don’t inundate
Given that universities were just starting to establish neuroscience courses and degrees during that period, Bear recalls that locating a publisher proved challenging. The demand was simply too unpredictable. Faced with uncertainty in the market, Bear notes, the original publisher, Williams & Wilkins, preferred to minimize expenses by printing solely in black and white. Yet, Bear and his co-authors insisted on utilizing color. Staying true to their vision for the book, they wanted students, even before beginning to read, to benefit from appealing, high-quality illustrations.
“Rather than those that convey a thousand words, we aimed to produce illustrations that clearly emphasize a single point,” Bear remarks. “We want to avoid overwhelming students with excessive detail. For those interested in the contents of our book, just observe the images.”
If the text had seemed impenetrable and tedious to students, Bear asserts, he and his co-authors would have wasted the advantage they held in presenting their subject: the intrinsically captivating and thrilling brain.
“Most devoted scientists are incredibly passionate about the science. It’s captivating. It’s enjoyable. It excites them,” Bear states. “We endeavor to communicate that joy. We are fortunate because the focus of our enthusiasm is the brain.”
To effectively convey that joy and enthusiasm, a hallmark of the book over its 30-year history has been the presentation of the process of discovery alongside the discoveries themselves, according to Bear. While it is invaluable to provide students with the experimental grounding that underpins the concepts they are studying, outlining the specifics of every experiment would complicate the narrative. Instead, Bear, Connors, and Paradiso have chosen to feature the discovery process through one-page guest essays by prominent neuroscientists who share their personal journey of discovery. Each edition has included around 25 such “Path of Discovery” essays, with contributions from over 100 scientists, including several Nobel Prize laureates, such as the Picower Institute’s founding director, Susumu Tonegawa.
The latest edition presents Path of Discovery essays by current Picower Institute Director Li-Huei Tsai and colleague Emery N. Brown. Tsai narrates her finding that sensory stimulation of 40Hz rhythms in the brain can elicit a beneficial response among various cell types. Brown discusses how numerous biological cycles and rhythms in the brain and body, including circadian rhythms and brain waves, assist in organizing our daily activities.
Significant influence
Jones & Bartlett indicates that over 470 colleges and universities across 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have utilized the fourth edition of the book. Different editions have also been translated into seven additional languages, encompassing Chinese, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. There are numerous reviews on Amazon.com averaging around 4.6 stars. One reviewer remarked about the fourth edition: “I never knew it was feasible to adore a textbook before!”
The reviews occasionally surpass standard internet comments. After Bear received an accolade in Brazil, he found himself inundated at the podium by eager students wanting him to sign their copies of the book. Earlier this year, when Bear underwent surgery, the anesthesiologist was thrilled to meet him.
“The anesthesiologist exclaimed, ‘Are you the Mark Bear who authored the textbook?’ and she was immensely excited, stating, ‘This book transformed my life,’” Bear remembers. “Once I had recuperated, she appeared in the ICU for me to sign it. All of us authors have experienced this, realizing that there are individuals whose lives we’ve touched.”
Although Bear takes pride in the fact that numerous students have gained from the book, he also recognizes that teaching and textbook writing have enriched him as a scientist. He states that they have enhanced his ability to present his research more clearly and have offered him a broad perspective on what’s genuinely significant in the field.
“Experience in teaching will shape the impact of your own science by making you more adept at communicating it effectively,” Bear asserts. “Furthermore, the teacher faces the challenging task of surveying a field and deciding, ‘I must capture the crucial advancements and sideline the lesser ones.’ It provides a perspective that aids in distinguishing between more significant and less significant issues in your own research.”
Over the span of 30 years, through their meticulously crafted book, Bear, Connors, and Paradiso have provided that perspective to generations of students. The next generation will commence with the publication of today’s new edition.
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