Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD

Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience

Chairman, Department of Neuroscience and

Director of the Mount Sinai Brain Institute

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

New York, NY

Stephen E. Hyman, MD

Professor of Neurobiology

Harvard Medical School

Provost

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

Robert C. Malenka, MD, PhD

Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry

and Behavioral Sciences

Director, Nancy Friend Pritzker Laboratory

Stanford University School of Medicine

Palo Alto, CA

Molecular Neuropharmacology was created to provide an concise, modern (i.e., molecular) resource for neuroscience and medical students learning the chemistry of the nervous system, its diseases and the treatments of those illnesses. It was designed to compete directly with Cooper, Bloom and Roth: The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology (now in 8th edition, OUP, sales of ~30,000 LOE)

Molecular Neuropharmacology is a very well-written and comprehensive book, and is written at a level appropriate for students. It is also of use to the trained scientist as they often have a need to look up general information that is outside the realm of their own research. Compared to the competition (see three in-depth reviews and surveys) the content is more thorough yet easier to understand. The book is well illustrated and both the figures and the didactic “boxes” aid the reader in understanding the complex subject matter.

The competing books are either smaller (Cooper et al.) or significantly longer (Siegel et al., Basic Neurochemistry) and are packaged as a quick read and a comprehensive textbook. As noted by one reviewer, the packaging of Molecular Neuropharmacology makes it look more like a “workbook” than a reference. Also, as many reviewers noted, the design (inside and out) is rather dull and makes the material seem more dense than it is. That being said, the audience does need concise, high-yield references (like everyone, they have more to do in less time), and the authors have committed to making the writing less dense and to cutting the text by approximately 100 printed pages (see attached revision plan from authors.)

The first edition did well for a first edition in this market, but still sold only 1/5 the number of copies of Cooper and ½ the number of copies of Siegel. With a more competitive package, including full color throughout, and continued excellent content that is edited for brevity, the second edition can do better.

Other elements of the revision plan include condensing the first six chapters into four (much of the page reduction will be gained here,) increasing the coverage of pain, updating all content to reflect advances in the state of knowledge, and deleting text in favor of tables and figures wherever possible.