The Brain in Search of Itself: Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the Story of the Neuron

Neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934) merits a spot “among Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton as one of the greatest scientists of all time,” writes journalist Ehrlich (The Dreams of Santiago Ramón y Cajal) in this serviceable biography. Cajal won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work demonstrating that the brain is composed of individual cells rather than being a single integrated mass, and Ehrlich concisely describes Cajal’s scientific work and situates him within the tumultuous political scene in Spain during his lifetime. Born in Petilla, Cajal was “willful and restless” as a child, then a poor student who was interested primarily in art, but was pushed by his father to study medicine. Ehrlich’s Cajal is a complicated individual, one who largely shaped Spain’s scientific culture (as its “public representative”), supported liberal politics while retaining a belief in the Spanish monarchy, and promoted opportunities for women while denouncing various aspects of feminism. But the author never quite explains how science took hold of him or what made him tick. Ehrlich does a fine job of laying out the particulars of his subject’s life, but readers desiring insight into his personality will be left wanting. (Mar.)