When I heard that this book was out of print, with limited availability, I decided to check with Amazon. I was extremely surprised to learn that nobody had taken the time to provide an Amazon.com review. I feel privileged in taking the opportunity to provide this brief overview and opinion.
This book is outstanding. Dr. Schmahmann pulled together a group of experts who cover all relevant functions of the cerebellum. The book is divided into seven sections covering different topics, including historical overview, anatomic substrates, physiological observations, neuroimaging studies, clinical and neuropsychological observations, theoretical considerations, and future directions; there are several chapters to each section, and there is not one weak chapter in the book. The theoretical section is of particular interest; many of the hypotheses drawn within the chapters from that section are now well supported by the neuroscientific findings of the last 15 years. The only area that receives limited coverage concerns the issue of cerebellar control models, but at the time of the writing of this book, the concept of cerebellar control models was in its infancy. After reading this book, the reader should acquire an understanding of all the basics of cerebellar functioning,including the cerebellar underpinnings of cognition, while bridging the gap "from movement to thought."
This book should be required reading for neuropsychology graduate and internship programs, and it should be standard reading for neurologists, neuropsychiatrists, and psychiatrists as well. When the book was written, it was "ahead of its time," and much of the information within this book remains "cutting edge" material.
The book might seem a bit dated, but the 1997 publication date is misleading; this is a classic book, there is nothing around more recent to replace its comprehensive coverage of a variety of topics, and it should be a classic for many, many years to come. This book is an absolutely great investment for any student of brain-behavior relationships. I purchased my copy at Amazon several years ago - whenever this book turns-up as a used copy at Amazon, I suggest you quickly purchase it before any supply might run out.
LFK (Leonard F. Koziol)
