Brodmann's 'Localisation In The Cerebral Cortex'

Brodmann's text is often considered on of the major classics in the neurological world and forms the basis for so-called "localization" of function in the cerebral cortex, but few have seen the original 1909 monograph. This book provides a translation of the original text.

This book is a translation of the famous book “Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Grosshirnrinde in ihren Prinzipien dargestellt auf Grund des Zellenbaues” by Korbinian Brodmann, which is one of the major classics of the neurological world. Although Brodmann''s book was written in 1909, to this day it forms the basis for so-called “localisation” of function in the cerebral cortex. Brodmann''s “areas” are still used to designate cortical functional regions, such as area 4 for the motor cortex, area 17 for the visual cortex and so on. This nomenclature is used by clinical neurologists and neurosurgeons for man, as well as by experimentalists for various animals. Brodmann''s famous “maps” of the cerebral cortex of man, monkeys and other mammals are among the most commonly reproduced figures in neurobiology books. In fact, there are very few neuroanatomy, neurophysiology or clinical neurology textbooks which do not refer to Brodmann''s cortical localisation. Despite this, few people have ever seen a copy of the 1909 monograph, and even fewer have read it! Professor Laurence J Garey, who frequently used Brodmann''s findings and maps in his neurobiological work, had a copy of the 1909 text. He was often asked to provide translations of specific parts of the text by colleagues who neither had access to the book nor an English version. He thus finally decided to translate the whole book.