cover image Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain

Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain

David Bainbridge, . . Harvard Univ., $25.95 (338pp) ISBN 978-0-674-02610-0

In this “geographical tour” of the nervous system, readers will find an entertaining and enlightening history of neuroscience and a look at the anatomy of the brain. A clinical anatomist at Cambridge University, Bainbridge (The X in Sex) has had ample opportunity to examine the brain and ponder its origins and function—as well as the many strange and marvelous names of its parts, labeled long before anyone knew what they did. The Zonules of Zinn—“a name from an ancient map, from a souk, from another galaxy”—are small fibers attached to the lens of the eye that adjust it for seeing at different distances. Bainbridge discusses the history and function of each name: in addition to hillocks and pyramids are the Almonds (amygdalae), part of the emotional response system, and the locus coeruleus, or “sky-blue place,” involved in alertness and stress. Your brain even has its own “Area 51,” thanks to a German neuroanatomist whose system of numbering different regions of the cerebral cortex is still used today. Bainbridge’s tour also includes short discussions of nervous system disorders like multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. The book’s relaxed pace, interesting tangents and broad coverage make this book eminently suitable for anyone curious about the brain. 30 b&w illus. (Jan.)