Brain, Vol. 124, No. 11, 2336-2338,
November 2001
© 2001 Oxford University Press
Book reviews |
HANDBOOK OF ATAXIA DISORDERS.
Edited by Thomas Klockgether. 1999. New York: Marcel Dekker. Price US$215. Pp. 689. ISBN 0-82470-381-2.
Section of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK
This is Volume 51 of the Marcel Dekker (http://www.dekker.com) handbook series `Neurological Disease and Therapy', which attempts to collate the increasing contributions from recent molecular advances of the ataxic disorders. The pace of these advances can create disadvantages in a book of this kind, with an inevitable lag between compilation and publication. It has contributions from a number of respected authors in the field, but with a European and particularly German dominance.
There are 32 chapters, organized within seven themed sections, although three sections have only one chapter each. In general the book is well constructed with comprehensive summaries and generates some interesting points of discussion. The first two chapters of the Introduction examine the architectural and functional aspects of the cerebellar system. Chapter 1 deals with the complex organization of the cerebellum and its connections, and efforts are made to integrate this complexity with clinical classification. The