Sorry to bump this old thread, but it's a top hit on google so I think a lot of people are still reading it and figured I'd put in my two cents.
None of these are going to be high yield, but if you don't have a good grasp on neuroscience, you're really going to just be memorizing a bunch of names of brain areas, neurotransmitters, tracts, without really getting how things work. I recently investigated what neuroscience textbooks are used by elite universities and came up with this list:
Unfortunately, I don't know how to make tables on this forum. Or even if you can? so to see this information in a clearer form, see a price comparison, and learn how you can buy the best textbooks for cheap, please check out my blog on the subject:
What are the Best Neuroscience Textbooks? Which textbooks do elite universities use? And how you can buy them for cheap?
The three being used by multiple elite universities are: (easier to read in table format on the blog)
Bear, Connors, Paradiso: Neuroscience – Exploring the Brain
Used by MIT, Johns Hopkins, UPenn (Note the MIT class taught by the author, Mark Bear)
Kandel et al.: Principles of Neural Science
Used by Stanford, UCSF, Columbia
Purves et al.: Neuroscience
Used by Harvard, Columbia
Of these three, I used Bear as an undergraduate, and Purves as a TA for an undergraduate class. Bear is the most basic and most appropriate if you haven’t taken a college-level introductory biology class or if it’s been a while since you took one. If you know biology but not neurosciences, Purves may be better. Based on a conversation I had with a friend, if you already know some neuroscience, Kandel may be the most in depth.
