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In his foreword to this book, Mark Solms colorfully describes his first day as a neuropsychologist at a neurosurgical ward, and how difficult it was for him then, when this book did not exist yet. Solms's story reminded me of my first weeks as a neuropsychologist of a neurological rehabilitation ward. I remember buying Neuropsychological assessment by Muriel D. Lezak, which was (and I think still is) considered “the bible” of the field. I was determined to read it all, chapter by chapter, in order to learn everything there was to know about neuropsychology from the very beginning of my life as a clinician. However, the impossible length (some 1000 pages) of Lezak's book, combined with my intensive clinical work, made me give up on my ambitious (if not obsessive) project after three chapters.
Since then, Lezak's book has become a good professional friend and an endless source of information for specific questions. However, upon reflection, some more manageable, friendly reading material could have definitely helped me with the difficult, sometimes overwhelming transition from being a university student to being a full-time clinician working with brain-injured patients. Coetzer and Balchin's new book does a wonderful job responding to this challenge. The book's 200 pages offer a compact, yet comprehensive and pleasant reading experience, which prepares the reader for the task of working with patients who suffer from brain lesions.
In the preface, the authors describe clinical neuropsychology as “a curious beast, representing equal measures of science and art”, and propose that “neuropsychology can be very technical on the one hand, but can also demand extraordinary humanity and compassion on the other”. One of the big achievements of this book is its success in representing both sides of this “curious beast” very well. The book nicely covers the relevant, essential aspects of “brain-behavior relations science” on the one hand, and sensitively and respectfully deals with