As individuals gain expertise in a chosen field they can begin to conceptualize how what they know can be applied more broadly, to new populations and situations, or to increase desirable outcomes. Judd's book does just this. It takes our current understanding of the etiology, course, and sequelae of brain injuries, combines this with established psychotherapy and rehabilitation techniques, and expands these into a cogent model of what Judd calls “neuropsychotherapy.” Simply put, neuropsychotherapy attempts to address the cognitive, emotional and behavioral changes in brain-injured persons, changes that may go undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or untreated.

Sexual Differentiation of the Brain will appeal primarily to researchers with specific interest in neuroendocrinological contributions to the sexual dimorphism of brain structures and neuropathways, predominantly in nonhumans. Collectively, the 16 chapters provide comprehensive review of our current understanding of the effects of hormonal steroids and their metabolites on brain development and the manner in which this correlates with specific behavioral functions. The clinician interested in furthering an understanding of sexually differentiated cognitive functioning or behavioral patterns in humans, may perceive discussion in many chapters as esoteric at best, or less charitably, as irrelevant. It is assumed that the reader has a prerequisite understanding of basic genetic and hormonal influences on brain development and subsequent behavioral manifestation. Although these issues are clarified by reference or associated discussion in several chapters, an introductory overview by the editor would have been beneficial. Similarly, the editor would have facilitated the reader's effort by organizing chapters according to findings of brain sexual dimorphism in humans versus “primitive” species, by clarifying the relevance of examining other species and/or by focusing attention to parallels in anatomical findings or in associated behavior.

The title Bender Gestalt: Screening for Brain Dysfunction (2nd ed.) indicates that the primary utility of the Bender Gestalt Test (BGT) is one of screening for the presence of brain impairment. The author, Patricia Lacks, quickly dispels this notion in the preface to her book where she states, “My book is not about how to use the BGT as a single test of ‘organicity’, a long outdated practice. Instead, the focus is on neuropsychological assessment as a continuum” (p. vii). Indeed, Lacks advocates, throughout her book, the more general use of the BGT as an important part of any standard neuropsychological test battery. She writes, “Even though the BGT has been shown to be useful for identifying persons with a wide range of cognitive impairment, it primarily assesses disordered perceptual-motor and executive functions” (p. 27). Unfortunately, Lacks does not provide the reader with any data to support her above statement regarding what the BGT actually measures. Before taking the latter point any further, allow me to briefly describe the BGT and its history.

Working memory is one of the hot topics in cognitive neuroscience. It is purported to be involved in most cognitive operations from attention to learning to executive functioning to consciousness. Theoretical conceptualizations are equally diverse, with models emphasizing cognitive processes, biological structures, and neural computations.

Yes, that is the Horace Magoun who, with the distinguished neurophysiologist Louise Marshall, has produced a treasure trove of stories about the founders, foundations, and development of contemporary brain science. While large enough (8½″ × 11½″) and with enough interesting pictures that it can serve as a coffee table conversation piece, this book brings research and investigators to life in a lively, conversational text that should be fully accessible to entering college students and fully interesting to mature neuroscientists. This is the kind of book which, if available to young people interested in a scientific or science-based career, could easily attract them to the neurosciences. This is not to say that the book is simplistic; rather it is rich in the truly interesting stories, studies, and pictorial stuff of neuroscience that reminds those of us in the field why we were drawn to brain studies in the first place.

Howard's edited volume does not reach the full challenge of its title in containing “everything you need to know about old age psychiatry,” but the information it does contain is well presented and among the important things for geriatric mental health professionals (including neuropsychologists) to know. The book consists of 19 chapters divided into three sections.

The Handbook of the Aging Brain is a broad and encompassing handbook resource that contains research findings on how brain substrate changes with age and how these molecular and biochemical changes affect behavior and cognition in the elderly. The book contains 16 independent chapters that attempt to integrate an impressive growing knowledge on normal, abnormal, and even successful neural aging. It includes a broad spectrum of research encompassing molecular, morphological, neuropathological, and neuropsychological patterns in later life. Each chapter is written by acknowledged experts who are currently engaged as active researchers in their respective topic areas. Although the chapters have an informative nature and their readability is outstanding, the editorial work is fairly poor. No unifying themes between the chapters were orchestrated. The editors could have organized the book into sections and could have made comments as an attempt to tie together the various chapters or topics, and build chapters based upon the information provided in the preceding one. Instead, the reader is left to do this exercise on his own, and I have attempted to do so in this review.

This is a very good book, perhaps even an excellent book. Professor Mackintosh is, interestingly, a well respected experimental psychologist who practices in the field of animal learning. His text, The Psychology of Animal Learning, is somewhat of a classic in the field. Thus, one wonders why Professor Mackintosh would take on the behemoth of the IQ ideology given his background. Indeed, the study of human intelligence is a subspecialty of psychology in its own right. I suspect Professor Mackintosh's motivation lies in the intellectual and academic challenge of this pursuit, and his resultant product reflects a true scholarly effort.

Neuropsychologists are placed in an increasing number of situations where they must provide empirical evidence of the validity of their methods. Managed care companies want to know the bottom line of whether a given assessment will have any impact on the patient's medical or psychological care. Expert witnesses are asked increasingly to provide scientific facts regarding the tests used in their assessment battery. Grant review committees inquire about the probability that a given test will yield a significant finding when used with a particular clinical population. It is argued that there is little empirical information available to aid in making these decisions. The volume Neuropsychological Differential Diagnosis by Zakzanis, Leach, and Kaplan takes an initial step in providing this type of information.

The second edition of Clinician's Guide to Neuropsychological Assessment is intended to be a graduate level textbook dealing with the practice of neuropsychology. The number of chapters has been expanded considerably, compared to the first edition of this book. Most of the new contributions are fairly up to date with the recent literature and pertain to areas of applied neuropsychology that have shown considerable growth over the past few years. In contrast, many of the purportedly revised chapters that were also present in the first edition are disappointing. For example, the chapter on “Principles of Neuropsychological Interpretation” appears to be an almost verbatim reprint of its 1994 counterpart and fails to review any of the literature that has since then developed with regard to issues such as reliability of change in test scores (Sawrie et al., 1996), effects of financial incentives (Binder & Rohling, 1996), or construct validity of commonly used tests (Goldman et al., 1996).

This collection of case studies demonstrates an ideal in the practice of neuropsychological rehabilitation. In each of the 20 case studies presented, Barbara Wilson's treatment approach is guided by a firm foundation in scientific theory, while maintaining the flexibility and creativeness characteristic of an art.