Cortex end Mind by Joaquin Fuster is the best book in the field I have read since Higher Cortical Functions by Alexander Luria. It is a book of similar scope and ambition, but reflecting the Zeitgeist of the beginning of the twenty-first century, rather than that of the middle of the twentieth century. I cannot think of anything of this importance and conceptual clarity written in between. It is also a very European book, decidedly about the forest and not about the trees, and infused with the sort of intellectual romanticism that our prevailing empiricist mores tend to eschew with almost embarrassed incomprehension. As a student of Luria and a fellow European, I can relate to all of the above. The logic, the philosophy and the general intellectual bent behind the book resonate so closely with my own, that I felt that I could have written this book, but not nearly as well or with this degree of professional erudition. As in his previous books, Fuster's ability to inject a certain kind of elegance and verve in the discussion of even the most arcane technical matters makes Cortex and Mind not just an enlightening read but also an enjoyable one.

Clinical Neuropsychology. Fourth Edition. Kenneth M. Heilman and Edward Valenstein (Eds.). 2003. New York: Oxford University Press. 744 pp., $78.00 (HB).

As a 1st-year graduate student and new convert to clinical neuropsychology, the second book I purchased in this exciting area was the first edition of Heilman and Valenstein's “Clinical Neuropsychology” published in 1979. It will come as no surprise to most readers that the first book I purchased was Lezak's first edition of “Neuropsychological Assessment,” published 3 years earlier, and of course a required text for our graduate course. As a teacher of that very same course over the past 18 years, I have recommended the various editions of both these texts to my students as the “standard” texts, a practice I imagine is shared world-wide. Thus, at one level it seems almost unnecessary to write a review of such a classic text, and at the same time to do it justice is a humbling task which I have no hope of fulfilling. All I can do is give a small taste of this latest offering edited by two of the great neurologists (and neuropsychologists) of modern times.

Mild Cognitive Impairment Aging to Alzheimer's Disease. R.C. Petersen (Ed.), 2003, New York: Oxford University Press. 269 pp., $55.00.

People are living longer and along with this phenomenon emerges the concern about the quality of life as the person ages. While dementia is by no means a natural consequence of aging, both its incidence and prevalence increase dramatically with age, from 0.5 percent per year at the age of 65 years to nearly 8%/year after the age of 85 years (Evans et al. 1989). Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia. Although the goals of treatment in patients with AD have been to improve or, at least, to slow the deterioration of memory and cognition and to maintain independent function, research is moving from controlling symptoms to early identification and prevention of age-related cognitive disabilities.

Consciousness is a hot topic now which, in itself, presents puzzles that look resolvable, and it also touches on most every other aspect of human behavior and just about all of brain function.

“Clinical Neuropsychology and Cost Outcome Research” is the initial volume of the National Academy of Neuropsychology Book Series, “Neuropsychology: Scientific Basis and Clinical Application.” The editors of the book, who are well-known for both their clinical expertise and research accomplishments, have arranged for other well-known leaders in the field to author the individual chapters of this book.