This well-established and acclaimed textbook introducing the rapidly growing field of nerve and muscle function has been completely revised and updated. Written with undergraduate students in mind, it begins with the fundamental principles demonstrated by the pioneering electrophysiological experiments on cell excitability. This leads to more challenging material recounting recent discoveries from applying modern biochemical, genetic, physiological and biophysical, experimental and mathematical analysis. The resulting interdisciplinary approach conveys a unified contemporary understanding of nerve and skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle function at the molecular, cellular and systems levels. Emphasis on important strategic experiments throughout clarifies the basis for our current scientific views, highlights the excitement and challenge of biomedical discovery, and suggests directions for future advances. These fundamental ideas are then translated into discussions of related disease conditions and their clinical management. Now including colour illustrations, it is an invaluable text for students of physiology, neuroscience, cell biology and biophysics