I borrowed the 4th ed. of this book from a friend of mine to write up a lecture on synaptic transmissions. It was the clearest, most well-written physio psych book I think I've ever seen. Usually when psychologist try to write about biology they end up doing things like describing neurons as "a fluid-filled balloon" (no joke. Actually saw that in my intro textbook), but Carlson is clear yet intelligent. I would definitely recommend this book and hope to use it in my classes in the future.

I am an undergraduate neuroscience major at Univeristy of Massachustts, Amherst, and I had the author of this book , Dr Neil Carlson, as my professor for both the undergrad and grad level of Physiological Psychology course. We used the slightly more advance book called "Physiology of Behavior," but they are both basically the same. I am now a TA for the course, so I know the book pretty well. It is written in exactly the same style as he lectures. This probably because the book was originally developed from notes he used to hand out, which you can tell when reading the book. He has little personal comments inserted in paragraphs; he writes in the first person; he has strange analogies; he sometimes jumps from subject to subject; but overall, the book is quite good. The best things about the book are the diagrams and the cd. They very clearly illustrate exactly what he's discussing, and make the subject at hand easier for students to understand. As for the breadth of the material covered, it seems to be quite wide. He starts off with the basics, like neuron structure and brain anatomy, but then quickly moves on from there to sleep mechanisms, eating behavior, learning and memory, etc. The concentration of the book is on the effects of hormones on the brain and our behaviors resulting from those effects. I would recommend taking some introductory biology courses before trying to tackle the book; my psych major friend who hasn't had a tougher time with the class. Overall though, the book is not that hard to understand. I've learned a lot from it and not been bored while doing it. It's one of the most popular textbooks for the physiology of behavior out there. My book is dogearred from so much use, and though I have used it for 3 semesters, I still feel like I can glean more information from it!