This colour atlas on epilepsy, the commonest and most chronic disorder of the central nervous system, contains illustrations of electroencephalograms, CT and MRI scans, and histology slides. The four main sections cover definitions, basic mechanisms, differential diagnosis and aetiology. The illustrations show: how the epidemiology, natural history and prognosis of the epilepsies can be depicted simply and effectively in graphic form; how sophisticated technology amplifies the importance of the visual imagery of epilepsy; how the EEG, the pictorial display of abnormal cerebral cavity, is central to classifying the epilepsies and epilepsy syndromes; how computerized tomogrphic and magnetic resonance imaging has revealed not only the obvious and subtle structural abnormalities in the brain responsible for seizure, but also how to treat them surgically; how more effective and less toxic anti-epileptic drugs and multidisciplinary drugs have improved epilepsy treatment dramatically; and how the surgical ablation of epileptic foci has demonstrated the marked neuropathological heterogeneity of the epilepsies.