The express aim of the editor of this book was to create “a master reference file on the field of neuroimaging”. This may sound somewhat enigmatic, particularly as, in Europe at least, we recognise two ways of using imaging to look at the nervous system:neuroradiology, a clinical speciality practiced by organ specialised radiologists familiar with a wide range of techniques, closely related to the clinical neurosciences to which this journal is devoted—neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry—andneuroimaging, usually the domain of physicists, psychologists, or neuroscientists expert in the application of a single technique, the impact of which on routine clinical practice has, it can be argued, often been negligible. A failure to distinguish clearly between the two markedly upsets the balance of this book.

The text is divided into four sections: history and technology (16 chapters); brain (11); head, neck, and spine (13, of which only four deal with the spine); …