© 2000 Nature America Inc. • http://medicine.nature.com BOOK REVIEW construction are a significant contribu- will require a fairly sophisticated under- Neural Transplantation tion by this book. The chapters range standing of neuroscience and provides from early cell transplant even a knowledgeable sci- by William J. Freed discoveries in Huntington entist in the field with MIT Press, $60.00, 542 pp disease and Parkinson some challenging ideas. ISBN 0-306-45637-0, 2000 disease to recent experi- Basic science is aban- ments of brain stem cell doned in the last chapter REVIEWED BY OLE ISACSON differentiation after trans- called: “Conclusions”, Neuroregeneration Laboratories plantation by yet-to-be dis- which perhaps should be McLean Hospital / Harvard Medical School covered mechanisms. The called “Speculation.” For 115 Mill Street text is detailed and scien- those readers who enjoy Belmont, Massachusetts 02478, USA tific, but has a fairly con- ‘intellectualized’ science Email:
[email protected] versational tone, although fiction and biology, this at times similar to a casual chapter will be interest- In Neural Transplantation, William peer review of an article. ing. For readers not inter- Freed delivers a spunky and interesting Freed in no way holds back ested in reading about view of an emerging field with a very his own interpretation of brain cloning or artificial active scientific pioneering spirit very complex experiments, and surveys a downloading of intelligence into among its practitioners, which also very rapidly moving experimental and human brains, this chapter will be of has many detractors in more conserva- clinical field. In many instances his book less value.