The process of brain development is an essential yet often overlooked area in the neuropsychological literature. The topic has a natural appeal to those who work with children where developmental disorders predominate. However, it is often more difficult for those who work with adults to appreciate the role of developmental aberrations and their contribution to pathological processes that may seem far removed from the early developmental history of our patients. The tendency for some to deemphasize early developmental influences may stem in part from a lack of clarity about how common toxin exposures, such as alcohol and nicotine, alter normal brain development and contribute to changes in cognitive function. Increasingly, evidence of early developmental influences has emerged in a host of epigenetically-based developmental disorders and neuropathological conditions, such as schizophrenia, and these influences are also implicated in theoretical models, such as cognitive reserve.

Since alcohol and nicotine represent the two most common prenatal toxins it was inevitable that there would eventually be a book devoted to the developmental consequences of these substances, and the authors' decisions to contribute to this book are not misguided. Brain Development: Normal Processes and Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine, edited by Michael W. Miller, offers an excellent conceptual basis for normal brain development. This volume describes at length the theoretical and experimental bases for abnormal brain development in response to alcohol and nicotine exposure. There is an underlying theme throughout the book that disruption of normal brain development leads to an array of developmental disorders, outlined through successive chapters in terms of disruption of ontogenetic processes. There is excellent coverage about our current understanding of alcohol and nicotine interference with brain development, albeit primarily at a cellular level, and a valuable context is provided for consideration of developmental resilience. Though these two toxins have very similar effects, their differences are periodically highlighted.

The volume is divided into three sections. A brief editorial introduction is provided first, with mention of how models of neurotoxicity provide insight into normal development (Chapter 1). Section 1, Normal Development, highlights normal brain development and the orderly sequence of basic ontogenetic processes—cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, and death. There are 6 chapters, including: Cell Proliferation (Chapter 2), Neuronal Migration (Chapter 3), Neuronal Differentiation: From Axons to Synapses (Chapter 4), Cell Death (Chapter 5), Intracellular Pathways (Chapter 6), and Developmental Disorders and Evolutionary Expectations: Mechanisms of Resilience (Chapter 7). Section 2, Ethanol Affected Development, includes 11 chapters and surveys the developmental consequences of alcohol exposure, including: Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Human Development (Chapter 8), Influence of Alcohol on the Structure of the Developing Human Brain (Chapter 9), Prenatal Ethanol Exposure and Fetal Programming: Implications for Endocrine and Immune Development and Long-Term Health (Chapter 10), Early Exposure to Ethanol Affects the Proliferation of Neuronal Precursors (Chapter 11), Effects of Ethanol on the Regulation of Cell Cycle in Neuronal Stem Cells (Chapter 12), Mechanisms of Ethanol Induced Alterations in Neuronal Migration (Chapter 13), Effects of Ethanol on Mechanisms of Regulating Neuronal Processes (Chapter 14), Neuronal Survival is Compromised by Ethanol: Extracellular Mediators (Chapter 15), Intracellular Events in Ethanol-Induced Neuronal Death (Chapter 16), Neural Crest and Developmental Exposure (Chapter 17), and Glial Targets and Developmental Exposure (Chapter 18). Section 3, Nicotine Affected Development, includes 5 chapters and outlines the developmental consequence of nicotine exposure, including: Tobacco Use During Pregnancy: Epidemiological Effects on Offspring (Chapter 19), Prenatal Nicotine Exposure and Animal Behavior (Chapter 20), Neuronal Receptors for Nicotine: Functional Diversity and Developmental Changes (Chapter 21), Neuronal Precursors as Preferential Targets for Drug Abuse: Long Term Consequences and Latent Susceptibility to Central Nervous System Disorders (Chapter 22), and Nicotinic Receptor Regulation and Developing Catecholomine Systems (Chapter 23). The authors are among the foremost neuroscientists and biologists in the areas of alcohol and nicotine exposure. Each chapter has a consistent and concise format along with a helpful acronym guide. Unlike some texts that inundate readers with superfluous information these chapters are noteworthy for being written in a more parsimonious and clear style.

Should you by this book? The price of nearly $100 seems excessive for this text, despite its many illustrations of aberrant cells. The publisher indicates that the book will be of interest to “neuroscientists, developmental biologists, teratologists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, neurologists, neuropsychologists, and their students and trainees.” Though expertly written and authoritative there is relatively little attention paid to pathology beyond the cellular level, such as the impact of alcohol and nicotine on cognition and behavior. The average neuropsychologist or clinician will have benefited from reading the first section pertaining to normal brain development to refresh their understanding of this topic, but the sections pertaining to alcohol and nicotine exposure will be primarily of interest to researchers who have a need for detailed information about the cellular processes associated with exposure to these substances.