Introduction

Our mission is to create an open-source, freely available, adaptable textbook of neuroscience for all.

This book, which we lovingly call Mega-Neuroscience when no one else is listening, is a concatenation of four books, which are still housed at Utah Educational Network’s PressBooks site:

• Introduction to Neuroscience
• Developing Expertise in Neuroscience
• Advanced Neuroscience
• Human Neuroanatomy

There is a lot to do here. Since much of the work was done by undergraduates in courses I teach, the quality is variable. Over the next few months, I will do my best to sand down the rougher edges. But I could still use some help. Please contact me at hutchins.jim@gmail.com if you want to pitch in with writing or editing.

Cover

Design: Alexia Wade and Jim Hutchins.

Image: electron micrograph of contacts between photoreceptors, horizontal cells, and bipolar cells in the salamander outer plexiform layer. Taken by Jim Hutchins and published in his MA dissertation (1982) Localization of cholinesterase activity in the outer plexiform layer of the larval tiger salamander retina, University of California Berkeley. The retinal photoreceptors have distinctive ribbon synapses.

Useful Websites

Resources which we will explore in future updates:

Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience (Kirby, Glenn, Sandstrom, and Williams)

Introduction to Neuroscience (Hedges)

Foundations of Neuroscience (Henley)

Neuroscience Online and Neuroanatomy Online (Byrne)

Open Neuroscience Initative (Lim)

HarvardX Neuroscience Videos

University of British Columbia neuroanatomy videos

The R. Glenn Northcutt Collection of Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy and Embryology

About the author

name: Jim Hutchins, PhD

institution: Colorado School of Mines

website: https://jim.hutchins.name

Dr. Jim Hutchins is an adjunct instructor at Colorado School of Mines with 45 years of teaching experience spanning K-12 through medical school. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine, where his dissertation focused on acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter in the human retina, followed by postdoctoral research at Vanderbilt University on visual system development. His research contributions include highly cited work on mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and synaptic pruning in the retinogeniculate system. Dr. Hutchins has authored multiple open-access textbooks in neuroscience, medical terminology, and anatomy & physiology, creating freely accessible educational resources that have saved students over $5 million in textbook costs. He is committed to open educational resources and Creative Commons licensing, believing that knowledge should be freely available to all learners.