European Journal of

Nuclear Medicine Book reviews

How the self controls its brain (1994) John C. Eccles, Springer- Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg/New York/London Paris/Tokyo/Hong Kong/Barcelona/Budapest, approx. 200 pages

This is another exciting book published by the Nobel Laureate of 1963, Sir John Carey Eccles. The book has been published in the year of his 91st birthday. Those who have had the chance to meet John Eccles and to experience his bright and ever-young mind will enjoy his new ideas about the self and the brain. John again fights the "long dark gloom of materialism", Materialism is opposed to the "spiritual self as the controller of the brain". Recent research in neuroanatomy has shed some light on the "psychons", which are now described in more detail. Some of the chapters repeat the basis of former books, thus enabling the reader unfamiliar with John Eccles' work to understand his new ideas. While thermody- namics cannot explain the interaction of the immaterial mind and the material brain, quantum physics forms a link between the phi- losophy of the mind and the brain, John Eccles hypothesis that in selected areas of the neocortex, such as the supplementary motor area, a presynaptic impulse acts probabilistically in causing the li- beration of transmitters from each synaptic vesicle, with a milli- EPSR The probability of this occurring is said to be as low as one in four. John Eccles persuaded a physicist from Germany, F. Beck, to test his hypothesis by the methods of quantum physics. The re- sultant, jointly written Chapter 9 is the highlight of the book. It is the first time that the interaction of the mind and its brain has been proven by physics.

This book is a highlight for all of us in nuclear medicine who play with the brain. Brain SPET and PET will certainly contribute to a better understanding of John Eccles' brain/mind hypothesis. Readers of this book will obtain new ideas and stimuli for future brain research. H.J. Biersack, Bonn

MRI of the cardiovascular system (1993) A.J. Duerinckx, C.B. Higgins, R.I. Pettigrew (eds.) Raven Press, New York; printed pa- ges: 302; price: $88.50

This book is one of a ten-volume series called "The Raven MRI Teaching Files". An accompanying video disk containing all the cases in the series is also available. In the present volume 100 case studies are illustrated by a total of more than 600 exellent MRI images. The book is well organized throughout. Eight sections de- scribe a large variety of cardiovascular diseases and congenital an- omalies, including surgical procedures and postsurgical complica- tions. A detailed subject index makes it easy to find specific to- pics. Each case study starts with selected images and a short clini- cal history on the left-hand page. The right-hand page describes the findings and diagnosis, completed with a concise discussion and recent references.

Six cases on cardiomyopathy and six cases on ischaemic heart disease illustrate the potential of MRI techniques in this particular field of interest to nuclear medicine. The relative merits of MRI, nuclear medicine and other modalities are only sparsely discussed, e.g. in case 54.

This is not a book for everyone in nuclear medicine. However, for departments with an emphasis on cardiology this book can serve as a good reference. It is valuable in specific cases where anatomical information from MRI and functional information from nuclear techniques must be integrated for a correct clinical decision. R. Valkema0 Leiden

Eur J Nucl Med (1994) 21:1166 VoL 21, No. 10, October 1994 - © Springer-Verlag 1994