Mr Tocci was a high school science teacher and writes about people with Down syndrome as though they were science projects. He does not bother to identify any people pictured in the book, just labels them as specimens, eg "a young person with DS enjoys time with friends" I realize the book was written for young people and that the language is simplistic but he also has his facts wrong. Down syndrome is not an inherited condition. I think that the author means well which is why I have stretched to 2 stars. He has covered the topic thoroughly. He speaks about treating people with Down syndrome as individuals yet through his writing style he does just the opposite. Generalizations abound in this book. I would avoid it as there are many better available.

I bought this book in late 1998 and sifted through a chapter here and a chapter there. It is a book of short reviews on different neurological diseases. For the price and the contributing authors, I was hoping for something special, but it was pretty poor fare, certainly of no greater quality or insight than a typical journal review article. What a waste of my money - I would not even recommend it as part of a library collection.

Alternatively, I would strongly recommend buying individual books on neurological areas of interest - for example, "McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis" is stunning in its excellence (some flaws in what was left out). The same type of recommendation would hold for genetics and molecular biology - buy a premium textbook and scan it for what is needed.