Changing Concepts of Mechanisms of Waking and Sleep States -- Methodology of Morphological and Physiological Substrates Underlying States of Vigilance -- Afferent and Efferent Connections of Brainstem and Forebrain Modulatory Systems -- Neuronal Circuits in the Thalamus, Neocortex, and Hippocampus, Targets of Diffuse Modulatory Systems -- Intrinsic Electrophysiological Properties of Brainstem and Forebrain Neurons -- Neurotransmitter-Modulated Currents of Brainstem Neurons and Some of Their Forebrain Targets -- Synchronized Brain Oscillations Leading to Neuronal Plasticity during Waking and Sleep States -- Brainstem and State dependency of Thalamocortical Systems -- Neuronal Activities in Brainstem and Basal Forebrain Structures Controlling Waking and Sleep States -- Motor Systems -- Neuronal Control of REM Sleep -- REM Sleep as a Biological Rhythm: The Phenomenology and a Structural and Mathematical Model with Application to Depression -- The Role of Active Forebrain and Humoral Systems in Sleep Control.Steriade and McCarley have done a sterling job of bringing together much of what is relevant (and some of what is not) into a present-day light...The book is rich in references and leaves no aspect of the problem untouched. The morphological, pharmacological, physiological and mathematical modeling aspects of different components of the subject are treated to exhaustion...the book is richly illustrated and down-right comprehensive. It will delight those interested in the field, will inform those who need a context for their research efforts and is a must for graduate and medical libraries. -Reprinted from Neuroscience, Vol. 42, No. 2, R.R. Llinas, Book Reviews, pp. 613-615, Copyright 1991, with permssion from Elsevier.