books in short

Genes, Brain and Behavior (2007) 6: 208 # 2006 The AuthorJournal compilation # 2006 Blackwell Munksgaard

Books in short

An Introduction to Ecological GenomicsN. M. van Straalen and D. Roelofs

Oxford University Press, 2006. £32.50 (paperback), viii þ 307

pp. ISBN 978-0-19-856671-7

It is not every day that a new field gets born, but this book is

intended as a course book for a brand new field, ecologicalgenomics. Not surprisingly, the first chapter is dedicated to

defining the field as studying ‘the structure and functioning ofa genome with the aim of understanding the relationship

between the organism and its biotic and abiotic environ-ments’. Subsequent chapters are dedicated to such topics as

genome analysis and comparison and life history patterns. Afinal chapter tries to tie all this together. Here, the authors

quite rightly point to the diversifying trend in ecology and inthe whole of biology and their expectation that genomics

could lead to a reunification of the field.

Neurogenetics. Scientific and Clinical AdvancesD. R. Lynch and J. M. Farmer (eds)

Taylor & Francis, 2006. $199.95, xxi þ 757 pp. ISBN 0-8247-2942-0

‘Neurogenetics’ is quite a sweeping title, but as the subtitleindicates, this book is limited to the human, and even more

specifically, the clinical part of the field. Apart from this minorquibble, this book represents a valuable resource for pro-

fessionals involved with hereditary human neurological dis-orders. Neurology is also interpreted narrowly and such brain

disorders as schizophrenia that traditionally have been in therealm of psychiatry are not included. After five general

chapters treating subjects like genetic counseling and ethicaldilemmas, there follow 23 chapters discussing the latest

findings concerning such disorders as Charcot-Marie-Tooth,Huntington’s, tauopathies and Alzheimer’s Disease, among

many others. Each chapter presents diagnostic criteria,pathology, epidemiology, genetics and treatment strategies.

Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics. Science,Ethics and Public ConversationE. Parens, A. R. Chapman and N. Press (eds)

Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. $50, xxxv þ 336 pp.ISBN 0-8018-8224-9

For some reason, ethics is not a very popular subject amongbehavioral and neural geneticists. Probably, the subject is

associated by many with the ideological clashes that occurredin the past. This book is a goodway to overcome that prejudice.

The different chapters are contributed by active geneticists andethicists, strongly influencedbyV. ElvingAnderson. It iswritten

in such a way that the scientific issues become clear also fornon-specialists. I would like to stress that this book is not only

relevant for those of us working with humans. In the last few

years,wehave seen largemedia coverage for animalwork (‘theIQ gene’, ‘the aggression gene’) and animal researchers, too,

have a responsibility in how they communicate their work. Thisbook should be compulsory reading for anybody working or

interested in the fields of behavioral and neural genetics.

Understanding Autism. From Basic Neuro-science to TreatmentS. O. Moldin and J. L. R. Rubenstein (eds)

CRC Press, 2006. $159.95, xviþ 526 pp. ISBN 0-8493-2732-6

This is a very-well conceived book, compiling much of our

current knowledge of this enigmatic disorder. Although strictlyspeaking not a hereditary disorder, autism has a strong genetic

component and the book therefore openswith several chaptersreviewing the current state of thehunt for theunderlyinggenes.

Through chapters discussing the neurobiology of related dis-orders, we arrive at reviews of what is known of the underlying

neurophysiology and neuroanatomy of autism. The book iscompleted by chapters on current treatment strategies and, of

course, a chapter on possible animal models is also presented.

Transgenic and Knockout Models of Neuro-psychiatric DisordersG. S. Fisch and J. Flint (eds)

Humana Press, 2006. $145, xiiþ 296 pp. ISBN 1-58829-507-9

This book is a rather eclectic collection of 13 excellent chaptersbut, contrary to the hope expressed in the preface, it isway too

uneven to serve in the classroom. For instance, there are twochapters dealingwith the possible use ofmousemodels in the

study of speech and language disorders. Many disorders witheffects on cognition or behavior are either not mentioned or

hidden in a chapter on mouse models of mental retardation(such as Rett and Fragile X Syndrome). Alzheimer’s Disease

(AD) is treated in a (very readable) chapter on anxiety (which iscovered also in part of another chapter). I guess it can be

argued that AD is a neurological and not a psychiatric disorder,but then why is spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 covered in

a separate (and otherwise excellent) chapter? Yet anotherchapter gives an excellent overview of models of psychosis,

but contrary to what is suggested by the book title, does notcover many genetic models. This book could have benefited

from some more stringent editing and unfortunately is anexample that the total can be less than the sum of the parts.

Wim E. Crusio

Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS UMR 5106

Bat B2 – Avenue des Facultes

33405 Talence

France

E-mail: wim_crusio@yahoo.com

208 doi: 10.1111/j.1601-183X.2006.00287.x