Engaging and unique. This is an excellent and well-developed textbook on the physics of light as it is processed by biological organisms and on how light can be used to interrogate biological material. From Photon to Neuron is poised to become a standard text for both physicists and biologists. -Stephanie Palmer, University of Chicago Nelson has taken a subject usually treated in depth only at the graduate level and developed an understandable and coherent treatment appropriate for undergraduates. He provides a unified framework with which to discuss the disparate ways biological systems interact with light and the variety of ways researchers use light as a biological probe. There is no serious competitor for this book. -Alex J. Levine, University of California, Los Angeles This unusual book covers a huge variety of topics on light and vision, from fundamental physics to human visual psychophysics to some of the latest optical-microscopy techniques. Students and researchers alike in the physical and life sciences will find the book fascinating. -King-Wai Yau, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The science of light and vision transcends the artificial boundaries between physics, chemistry, and biology. Isaac Newton appreciated this. Phil Nelson does, too. Nelson masterfully blends the natural sciences to explore how we perceive and control light. -Adam Cohen, Harvard University Intriguing, useful, and interdisciplinary. Nelson's excellent book provides students with a comprehensive introduction to the interaction between light and biosystems. -Zhong-Can Ou-Yang, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences As elegant as it is deep. A masterful tour of the science of light and vision, it goes beyond artificial boundaries between disciplines and presents all aspects of light as it appears in physics, chemistry, biology and the neural sciences. . . . In the same way that the author instructs non-physics students in some basic physics concepts and tools, he also provides physicists with accessible and very clear presentations of many biological phenomena involving light. . . . One of the most insightful, cross-disciplinary texts I have read in many years. It is mesmerising and will become a landmark in rigorous, but highly accessible interdisciplinary literature.
-Luis Alvarez-Gaume, CERN Courier A thorough and sweeping tour from the fundamental physics of light to the neurobiology of the retina, with many asides into modern advances in imaging. Lavishly illustrated and carefully explained. . . . The book itself is a gem.
-Soenke Johnsen, American Journal of Physics From Photon to Neuron: Light, Imaging, Vision completes a trilogy begun by Biological Physics and Physical Models of Living Systems. Those works establish Nelson as the preeminent author of textbooks at the intersection of physics and biology. . . . Nelson uses words, pictures, formulas, and code to teach students how to construct models and interpret data. His books provide a master class in how to integrate those four different approaches into a complete learning experience.
-Bradley Roth, Physics Today