text:
Title: Spinal cord
Subject: Syringomyelia, Ventricular system, Multiple sclerosis, Primary motor cortex, Intermediolateral nucleus
The spinal cord (in pinkish red) connects the brain to the nerves throughout the body
medulla spinalis
Anatomical terminology
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system (CNS). The spinal cord begins at the occipital bone and extends down to the space between the first and second lumbar vertebrae; it does not extend the entire length of the vertebral column. It is around 45 cm (18 in) in men and around 43 cm (17 in) long in women. Also, the spinal cord has a varying width, ranging from 13 mm (1⁄2 in) thick in the cervical and lumbar regions to 6.4 mm (1⁄4 in) thick in the thoracic area. The enclosing bony vertebral column protects the relatively shorter spinal cord. The spinal cord functions primarily in the transmission of neural signals between the brain and the rest of the body but also contains neural circuits that can independently control numerous reflexes and central pattern generators. The spinal cord has three major functions: as a conduit for motor information, which travels down the spinal cord, as a conduit for sensory information in the reverse direction, and finally as a center for coordinating certain reflexes. [1]
1.1 Spinal cord segments
1.3 Blood supply
2 Function
2.1 Somatosensory organization
2.2 Motor organization
2.3 Spinocerebellar tracts
3 Clinical significance
3.1 Injury
4 Additional images
Diagram of the spinal cord showing segments
The spinal cord is the main pathway for information connecting the brain and peripheral nervous system. The length of the spinal cord is much shorter than the length of the vertebral column. The human spinal cord extends from the foramen magnum and continues through to the conus medullaris near the second lumbar vertebra, terminating in a fibrous extension known as the filum terminale.
It is about 45 cm (18 in) long in men and around 43 cm (17 in) in women, ovoid-shaped, and is enlarged in the cervical and lumbar regions. The cervical enlargement, located from C3 to T2 spinal segments, is where sensory input comes from and motor output goes to the arms. The lumbar enlargement, located between L1 and S3 spinal segments, handles sensory input and motor output coming from and going to the legs.
The spinal cord is protected by three layers of tissue, called spinal meninges, that surround the canal. The dura mater is the outermost layer, and it forms a tough protective coating. Between the dura mater and the surrounding bone of the vertebrae is a space called the epidural space. The epidural space is filled with adipose tissue, and it contains a network of blood vessels. The arachnoid mater is the middle protective layer. Its name comes from the fact that the tissue has a spiderweb-like appearance. The space between the arachnoid and the underlying pia mater is called the subarachnoid space. The subarachnoid space contains cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The medical procedure known as a lumbar puncture (or "spinal tap") involves use of a needle to withdraw cerebrospinal fluid from the subarachnoid space, usually from the lumbar region of the spine. The pia mater is the innermost protective layer. It is very delicate and it is tightly associated with the surface of the spinal cord. The cord is stabilized within the dura mater by the connecting denticulate ligaments, which extend from the enveloping pia mater laterally between the dorsal and ventral roots. The dural sac ends at the vertebral level of the second sacral vertebra.
In cross-section, the peripheral region of the cord contains neuronal white matter tracts containing sensory and motor neurons. Internal to this peripheral region is the grey matter. The nerve cell bodies of the grey matter is contained in the three grey columns of the spinal cord that give the butterfly-shaped central region its shape. This central region surrounds the central canal, which is an extension of the fourth ventricle and contains cerebrospinal fluid.
The spinal cord has a shape that is compressed dorso-ventrally, giving it an elliptical shape. The cord has grooves in the dorsal and ventral sides. The posterior median sulcus is the groove in the dorsal side, and the anterior median fissure is the groove in the ventral side. In the spinal cord there are some tracts that brings information from the brain.
Spinal cord segments
The human spinal cord is divided into 31 different segments. At every segment, right and left pairs of spinal nerves (mixed; sensory and motor) form. Six to eight motor nerve rootlets branch out of right and left ventro lateral sulci in a very orderly manner. Nerve rootlets combine to form nerve roots. Likewise, sensory nerve rootlets form off right and left dorsal lateral sulci and form sensory nerve roots. The ventral (motor) and dorsal (sensory) roots combine to form spinal nerves (mixed; motor and sensory), one on each side of the spinal cord. Spinal nerves, with the exception of C1 and C2, form inside intervertebral foramen (IVF). Note that at each spinal segment, the border between the central and peripheral nervous system can be observed. Rootlets are a part of the peripheral nervous system.
In the upper part of the vertebral column, spinal nerves exit directly from the spinal cord, whereas in the lower part of the vertebral column nerves pass further down the column before exiting. The terminal portion of the spinal cord is called the conus medullaris. The pia mater continues as an extension called the filum terminale, which anchors the spinal cord to the coccyx. The cauda equina ("horse's tail") is the name for the collection of nerves in the vertebral column that continue to travel through the vertebral column below the conus medullaris. The cauda equina forms as a result of the fact that the spinal cord stops growing in length at about age four, even though the vertebral column continues to lengthen until adulthood. This results in the fact that sacral spinal nerves actually originate in the upper lumbar region.
The spinal cord can be anatomically divided into 30 spinal segments based on the origins of the spinal nerves. Each segment of the spinal cord is associated with a pair of ganglia, called dorsal root ganglia, which are situated just outside of the spinal cord. These ganglia contain cell bodies of sensory neurons. Axons of these sensory neurons travel into the spinal cord via the dorsal roots.
Ventral roots consist of axons from motor neurons, which bring information to the periphery from cell bodies within the CNS. Dorsal roots and ventral roots come together and exit the intervertebral foramina as they become spinal nerves.
The grey column, (as three regions of grey columns), in the center of the cord, is shaped like a butterfly and consists of cell bodies of interneurons, motor neurons, neuroglia cells and unmyelinated axons. The anterior and posterior grey column present as projections of the grey matter and are also known as the horns of the spinal cord. Together, the grey columns and the gray commissure form the "grey H."
The white matter is located outside of the grey matter and consists almost totally of myelinated motor and sensory axons. "Columns" of white matter carry information either up or down the spinal cord.
Within the CNS, nerve cell bodies are generally organized into functional clusters, called nuclei. Axons within the CNS are grouped into tracts.
There are 31 spinal cord nerve segments in a human spinal cord:
8 cervical segments forming 8 pairs of cervical nerves (C1 spinal nerves exit spinal column between occiput and C1 vertebra; C2 nerves exit between posterior arch of C1 vertebra and lamina of C2 vertebra; C3–C8 spinal nerves through IVF above corresponding cervica vertebra, with the exception of C8 pair which exit via IVF between C7 and T1 vertebra)
12 thoracic segments forming 12 pairs of thoracic nerves (exit spinal column through IVF below corresponding vertebra T1–T12)
5 lumbar segments forming 5 pairs of lumbar nerves (exit spinal column through IVF, below corresponding vertebra L1–L5)
5 sacral segments forming 5 pairs of sacral nerves (exit spinal column through IVF, below corresponding vertebra S1–S5)
1 coccygeal segments
In the fetus, vertebral segments correspond with spinal cord segments. However, because the vertebral column grows longer than the spinal cord, spinal cord segments do not correspond to vertebral segments in the adult, particularly in the lower spinal cord. For example, lumbar and sacral spinal cord segments are found between vertebral levels T9 and L2, and the spinal cord ends around the L1/L2 vertebral level, forming a structure known as the conus medullaris.
Although the spinal cord cell bodies end around the L1/L2 vertebral level, the spinal nerves for each segment exit at the level of the corresponding vertebra. For the nerves of the lower spinal cord, this means that they exit the vertebral column much lower (more caudally) than their roots. As these nerves travel from their respective roots to their point of exit from the vertebral column, the nerves of the lower spinal segments form a bundle called the cauda equina.
There are two regions where the spinal cord enlarges:
Cervical enlargement – corresponds roughly to the brachial plexus nerves, which innervate the upper limb. It includes spinal cord segments from about C4 to T1. The vertebral levels of the enlargement are roughly the same (C4 to T1).
Lumbosacral enlargement – corresponds to the lumbosacral plexus nerves, which innervate the lower limb. It comprises the spinal cord segments from L2 to S3 and is found about the vertebral levels of T9 to T12.
A model of segments of the human spinal cord, nerve roots can be seen extending laterally from the (not visible) spinal cord.
The spinal cord is made from part of the neural tube during development. As the neural tube begins to develop, the notochord begins to secrete a factor known as Sonic hedgehog or SHH. As a result, the floor plate then also begins to secrete SHH, and this will induce the basal plate to develop motor neurons. Meanwhile, the overlying ectoderm secretes bone morphogenetic protein (BMP). This induces the roof plate to begin to secrete BMP, which will induce the alar plate to develop sensory neurons. The alar plate and the basal plate are separated by the sulcus limitans. Additionally, the floor plate also secretes netrins. The netrins act as chemoattractants to decussation of pain and temperature sensory neurons in the alar plate across the anterior white commissure, where they then ascend towards the thalamus.
Lastly, it is important to note that the past studies of Viktor Hamburger and Rita Levi-Montalcini in the chick embryo have been further proven by more recent studies which demonstrated that the elimination of neuronal cells by programmed cell death (PCD) is necessary for the correct assembly of the nervous system.
Overall, spontaneous embryonic activity has been shown to play a role in neuron and muscle development but is probably not involved in the initial formation of connections between spinal neurons.
Spinal cord seen in a median section of a five week old embryo.
Spinal cord seen in a median section of a 3 month old embryo.
The spinal cord is supplied with blood by three arteries that run along its length starting in the brain, and many arteries that approach it through the sides of the spinal column. The three longitudinal arteries are called the anterior spinal artery, and the right and left posterior spinal arteries.[2] These travel in the subarachnoid space and send branches into the spinal cord. They form anastamoses (connections) via the anterior and posterior segmental medullary arteries, which enter the spinal cord at various points along its length.[2] The actual blood flow caudally through these arteries, derived from the posterior cerebral circulation, is inadequate to maintain the spinal cord beyond the cervical segments.
The major contribution to the arterial blood supply of the spinal cord below the cervical region comes from the radially arranged posterior and anterior radicular arteries, which run into the spinal cord alongside the dorsal and ventral nerve roots, but with one exception do not connect directly with any of the three longitudinal arteries.[2] These intercostal and lumbar radicular arteries arise from the aorta, provide major anastomoses and supplement the blood flow to the spinal cord. In humans the largest of the anterior radicular arteries is known as the artery of Adamkiewicz, or anterior radicularis magna (ARM) artery, which usually arises between L1 and L2, but can arise anywhere from T9 to L5.[3] Impaired blood flow through these critical radicular arteries, especially during surgical procedures that involve abrupt disruption of blood flow through the aorta for example during aortic aneursym repair, can result in spinal cord infarction and paraplegia.
Somatosensory organization
Spinal cord tracts.
Somatosensory organization is divided into the dorsal column-medial lemniscus tract (the touch/proprioception/vibration sensory pathway) and the anterolateral system, or ALS (the pain/temperature sensory pathway). Both sensory pathways use three different neurons to get information from sensory receptors at the periphery to the cerebral cortex. These neurons are designated primary, secondary and tertiary sensory neurons. In both pathways, primary sensory neuron cell bodies are found in the dorsal root ganglia, and their central axons project into the spinal cord.
In the dorsal column-medial leminiscus tract, a primary neuron's axon enters the spinal cord and then enters the dorsal column. If the primary axon enters below spinal level T6, the axon travels in the fasciculus gracilis, the medial part of the column. If the axon enters above level T6, then it travels in the fasciculus cuneatus, which is lateral to the fasciculus gracilis. Either way, the primary axon ascends to the lower medulla, where it leaves its fasciculus and synapses with a secondary neuron in one of the dorsal column nuclei: either the nucleus gracilis or the nucleus cuneatus, depending on the pathway it took. At this point, the secondary axon leaves its nucleus and passes anteriorly and medially. The collection of secondary axons that do this are known as internal arcuate fibers. The internal arcuate fibers decussate and continue ascending as the contralateral medial lemniscus. Secondary axons from the medial lemniscus finally terminate in the ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPL) of the thalamus, where they synapse with tertiary neurons. From there, tertiary neurons ascend via the posterior limb of the internal capsule and end in the primary sensory cortex.
The proprioception of the lower limbs differs from the upper limbs and upper trunk. There is a four-neuron pathway for lower limb proprioception. This pathway initially follows the dorsal spino-cerebellar pathway. It is arranged as follows: proprioceptive receptors of lower limb -> peripheral process -> dorsal root ganglion -> central process -> Clarke's column -> 2nd order neuron -> medulla oblogata (Caudate nucleus) -> 3rd order neuron -> VPL of thalamus -> 4th order neuron -> posterior limb of internal capsule -> corona radiata -> sensory area of cerebrum.
The anterolateral system works somewhat differently. Its primary neurons axons enter the spinal cord and then ascend one to two levels before synapsing in the substantia gelatinosa. The tract that ascends before synapsing is known as Lissauer's tract. After synapsing, secondary axons decussate and ascend in the anterior lateral portion of the spinal cord as the spinothalamic tract. This tract ascends all the way to the VPL, where it synapses on tertiary neurons. Tertiary neuronal axons then travel to the primary sensory cortex via the posterior limb of the internal capsule.
It should be noted that some of the "pain fibers" in the ALS deviate from their pathway towards the VPL. In one such deviation, axons travel towards the reticular formation in the midbrain. The reticular formation then projects to a number of places including the hippocampus (to create memories about the pain), the centromedian nucleus (to cause diffuse, non-specific pain) and various parts of the cortex. Additionally, some ALS axons project to the periaqueductal gray in the pons, and the axons forming the periaqueductal gray then project to the nucleus raphes magnus, which projects back down to where the pain signal is coming from and inhibits it. This helps control the sensation of pain to some degree.
Motor organization
Actions of the spinal nerves
Motor Function
C1-C6
Neck flexors
C1-T1
Neck extensors
C3, C4, C5
Supply diaphragm (mostly C4)
Shoulder movement, raise arm (deltoid); flexion of elbow (biceps); C6 externally rotates the arm (supinates)
Extends elbow and wrist (triceps and wrist extensors); pronates wrist
C7, T1
Flexes wrist; supply small muscles of the hand
T1 -T6
Intercostals and trunk above the waist
T7-L1
L1, L2, L3, L4
Thigh flexion
L2, L3, L4
Thigh adduction; Extension of leg at the knee (quadriceps femoris)
L4, L5, S1
Thigh abduction; Flexion of leg at the knee (hamstrings); Dorsiflexion of foot (tibialis anterior); Extension of toes
L5, S1, S2
Extension of leg at the hip (gluteus maximus); Plantar flexion of foot and flexion of toes
The corticospinal tract serves as the motor pathway for upper motor neuronal signals coming from the cerebral cortex and from primitive brainstem motor nuclei.
Cortical upper motor neurons originate from Brodmann areas 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 and then descend in the posterior limb of the internal capsule, through the crus cerebri, down through the pons, and to the medullary pyramids, where about 90% of the axons cross to the contralateral side at the decussation of the pyramids. They then descend as the lateral corticospinal tract. These axons synapse with lower motor neurons in the ventral horns of all levels of the spinal cord. The remaining 10% of axons descend on the ipsilateral side as the ventral corticospinal tract. These axons also synapse with lower motor neurons in the ventral horns. Most of them will cross to the contralateral side of the cord (via the anterior white commissure) right before synapsing.
The midbrain nuclei include four motor tracts that send upper motor neuronal axons down the spinal cord to lower motor neurons. These are the rubrospinal tract, the vestibulospinal tract, the tectospinal tract and the reticulospinal tract. The rubrospinal tract descends with the lateral corticospinal tract, and the remaining three descend with the anterior corticospinal tract.
The function of lower motor neurons can be divided into two different groups: the lateral corticospinal tract and the anterior cortical spinal tract. The lateral tract contains upper motor neuronal axons which synapse on dorsal lateral (DL) lower motor neurons. The DL neurons are involved in distal limb control. Therefore, these DL neurons are found specifically only in the cervical and lumbosacral enlargements within the spinal cord. There is no decussation in the lateral corticospinal tract after the decussation at the medullary pyramids.
The anterior corticospinal tract descends ipsilaterally in the anterior column, where the axons emerge and either synapse on lower ventromedial (VM) motor neurons in the ventral horn ipsilaterally or descussate at the anterior white commissure where they synapse on VM lower motor neurons contralaterally . The tectospinal, vestibulospinal and reticulospinal descend ipsilaterally in the anterior column but do not synapse across the anterior white commissure. Rather, they only synapse on VM lower motor neurons ipsilaterally. The VM lower motor neurons control the large, postural muscles of the axial skeleton. These lower motor neurons, unlike those of the DL, are located in the ventral horn all the way throughout the spinal cord.
Spinocerebellar tracts
Proprioceptive information in the body travels up the spinal cord via three tracts. Below L2, the proprioceptive information travels up the spinal cord in the ventral spinocerebellar tract. Also known as the anterior spinocerebellar tract, sensory receptors take in the information and travel into the spinal cord. The cell bodies of these primary neurons are located in the dorsal root ganglia. In the spinal cord, the axons synapse and the secondary neuronal axons decussates and then travel up to the superior cerebellar peduncle where they decussate again. From here, the information is brought to deep nuclei of the cerebellum including the fastigial and interposed nuclei.
From the levels of L2 to T1, proprioceptive information enters the spinal cord and ascends ipsilaterally, where it synapses in Clarke's nucleus. The secondary neuronal axons continue to ascend ipsilaterally and then pass into the cerebellum via the inferior cerebellar peduncle. This tract is known as the dorsal spinocerebellar tract.
From above T1, proprioceptive primary axons enter the spinal cord and ascend ipsilaterally until reaching the accessory cuneate nucleus, where they synapse. The secondary axons pass into the cerebellum via the inferior cerebellar peduncle where again, these axons synapse on cerebellar deep nuclei. This tract is known as the cuneocerebellar tract.
Motor information travels from the brain down the spinal cord via descending spinal cord tracts. Descending tracts involve two neurons: the upper motor neuron (UMN) and lower motor neuron (LMN).[4] A nerve signal travels down the upper motor neuron until it synapses with the lower motor neuron in the spinal cord. Then, the lower motor neuron conducts the nerve signal to the spinal root where efferent nerve fibers carry the motor signal toward the target muscle. The descending tracts are composed of white matter. There are several descending tracts serving different functions. The corticospinal tracts (lateral and anterior) are responsible for coordinated limb movements.[4]
Spinal cord injuries can be caused by trauma to the spinal column (stretching, bruising, applying pressure, severing, laceration, etc.). The vertebral bones or intervertebral disks can shatter, causing the spinal cord to be punctured by a sharp fragment of bone. Usually, victims of spinal cord injuries will suffer loss of feeling in certain parts of their body. In milder cases, a victim might only suffer loss of hand or foot function. More severe injuries may result in paraplegia, tetraplegia (also known as quadriplegia), or full body paralysis below the site of injury to the spinal cord.
Damage to upper motor neuron axons in the spinal cord results in a characteristic pattern of ipsilateral deficits. These include hyperreflexia, hypertonia and muscle weakness. Lower motor neuronal damage results in its own characteristic pattern of deficits. Rather than an entire side of deficits, there is a pattern relating to the myotome affected by the damage. Additionally, lower motor neurons are characterized by muscle weakness, hypotonia, hyporeflexia and muscle atrophy.
Spinal shock and neurogenic shock can occur from a spinal injury. Spinal shock is usually temporary, lasting only for 24–48 hours, and is a temporary absence of sensory and motor functions. Neurogenic shock lasts for weeks and can lead to a loss of muscle tone due to disuse of the muscles below the injured site.
The two areas of the spinal cord most commonly injured are the cervical spine (C1-C7) and the lumbar spine (L1-L5). (The notation C1, C7, L1, L5 refer to the location of a specific vertebra in either the cervical, thoracic, or lumbar region of the spine.) Spinal cord injury can also be non-traumatic and caused by disease (transverse myelitis, polio, spina bifida, Friedreich's ataxia, spinal cord tumor, spinal stenosis etc.)
Diagrams of the spinal cord.
Cross-section through the spinal cord at the mid-thoracic level.
Cross-sections of the spinal cord at varying levels.
Cervical vertebra
A portion of the spinal cord, showing its right lateral surface. The dura is opened and arranged to show the nerve roots.
The spinal cord with dura cut open, showing the exits of the spinal nerves.
The spinal cord showing how the anterior and posterior roots join in the spinal nerves.
A longer view of the spinal cord.
Projections of the spinal cord into the nerves (red motor, blue sensory).
Cross-section of rabbit spinal cord.
Spinal cord.Deep dissection.Posterior view.
Dissection images
Sagittal section of pig vertebrae showing a section of the spinal cord.
The base of the brain and the top of the spinal cord
Spinal cord. Spinal membranes and nerve roots.Deep dissection. Posterior view.
Cerebrum.Inferior view.Deep dissection
Spinal cord. Brachial plexus. Cerebrum.Inferior view.Deep dissection.
Medulla spinalis of 8-week-old human embryo
This article uses anatomical terminology; for an overview, see anatomical terminology.
Cauda equina
Conus medullaris
Meninges
Spinal nerve
Neutral spine
Brown–Séquard syndrome
Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP, or Familial spastic paraplegia – FSP, Strümpell-Lorrain syndrome)
Poliomyelitis, Post-polio syndrome
Upper-limb surgery in tetraplegia
Redlich-Obersteiner's Zone
^ Maton, Anthea; Jean Hopkins; Charles William McLaughlin; Susan Johnson; Maryanna Quon Warner; David LaHart; Jill D. Wright (1993). Human Biology and Health. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall. pp. 132–144.
^ a b c Moore, Keith; Anne Agur (2007). Essential Clinical Anatomy, Third Edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 298.
^ Biglioli, Paolo; et alia (April 2004). "Upper and lower spinal cord blood supply: the continuity of the anterior spinal artery and the relevance of the lumbar arteries". Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 127 (4): 1188–1192.
^ a b Saladin. Anatomy and Physiology, 5th Ed.
Spinal Cord Histology - A multitude of great images from the University of Cincinnati
Spinal Cord Medical Notes - Online medical notes on the spinal cord
"The Nervous System: Sensory and Motor Tracts of the Spinal Cord". Napa Valley College / Southeast Community College Lincoln, Nebraska. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
eMedicine: Spinal Cord, Topographical and Functional Anatomy
WebMD. May 17, 2005. Spina Bifida - Topic Overview Information about spina bifida in fetuses and throughout adulthood. WebMD children's health. Retrieved March 19, 2007.
Potential for spinal injury repair Retrieved February 6, 2008.
4000 sets of digital images, showing spatial expression patterns for various genes in adult and juvenile mouse spinal cords from the Allen Institute for Brain Science
TA 2–4:
Carpus
Collar bone (clavicle)
Thigh bone (femur)
Metacarpus
Metatarsus
Ossicles
Phalanges
Skull (cranium)
Ulna
Fibrous joint
Cartilaginous joint
Synovial joint
TA 5–11:
splanchnic/
viscus
Nasopharynx
Salivary gland
Oropharynx
Laryngopharynx
GU: Urinary system
Ureter
GU: Reproductive system
Scrotum
Testicle
Seminal vesicle
Pineal
Islets of Langerhans
TA 12–16
Lymphatic vessel
CNS equivalent
Glymphatic system
Subcutaneous tissue
Myeloid immune system
Lymphoid immune system
General anatomy: , , , ,
Nervous system (TA A14, GA 9)
Mesencephalon
Diencephalon
Sensory nerve
Motor nerve
Parasympathetic
Enteric nervous system
: CNS
(////////////)//
(/////)//, /,
, drug (////////)
: PNS
( / / / / / / / )
drug ()
The spinal cord (TA 14.1.02, GA 9.749)
Cervical enlargement
Lumbar enlargement
Filum terminale
Grey matter/
Rexed laminae
I–VI: Posterior grey column
I: Marginal nucleus
II: Substantia gelatinosa of Rolando
III+IV: Nucleus proprius
Spinal lamina V
Spinal lamina VI
VII: Lateral grey column
Intermediolateral nucleus
Posterior thoracic nucleus
VIII–IX: Anterior grey column
Interneuron
Alpha motor neuron
Onuf's nucleus
X: Other
Central gelatinous substance
Gray commissure
Terminal ventricle
somatic/
Posterior/PCML:
touch: Gracile
Cuneate
proprioception: Spinocerebellar
Ventral
pain/temp: Spinothalamic
Posterolateral (Lissauer)
Spinotectal
Spinoreticular tract
Spino-olivary tract
motor/
Corticospinal
Rubrospinal
Olivospinal
Vestibulospinal
Reticulospinal
Tectospinal
Anterior white commissure
Anterior median fissure
Anterolateral sulcus
Posterior median sulcus
Posterolateral sulcus
Sensory systems
Bones of the vertebral column
Spinal cord, Cerebellum, Pons, Autonomic nervous system, Central nervous system
Spinal cord, Central nervous system, Dura mater, Pia mater, Brain
Brain, Spinal cord, Peripheral nervous system, Cerebellum, Diencephalon
Hip, Fascia, Latin, Ankle, Tibia
Terminologia Anatomica
Spinal cord, Ear, Immune system, Skin, Latin
Syringomyelia
Spinal cord, Human brain, Cerebellum, Nervous system, Cerebrospinal fluid
Spinal cord, Central nervous system, Diencephalon, Terminologia Anatomica, ATC code N
Spinal cord, Central nervous system, Inflammation, Genetics, Magnetic resonance imaging
Primary motor cortex
Spinal cord, Motor cortex, Cerebellum, Brodmann area 4, Thalamus
Spinal cord, Latin, Elsevier, Grey matter, Lateral grey column


I can go to the toilet = Can I go to the toilet?
He is your brother = Is he your brother?
They are my best friends = Are they my best friends?
You like running. = Do you like running?
He loves his mother = Does he love his mother?
Your father lives in Maarssen = Does your father live in Maarssen?
I feel good about this test. = Do I feel good about this test?
My neighbours are moving to another city.
They are the sweetest people in the world.
He wants to make as trip around the world.
My cat makes my boyfriend sneeze.
Mr. Vermegen rules the school.
I am crazy. = I am not crazy.
They are mad about him. = They are not (aren't) mad about him.
We can come back later. = We can not (can't) come back later/.
We go shopping in a minute. = We don't go shopping in a minute.
I love Robbie Williams. = I don't love Robbie Williams.
The printer works. = The printer doesn't work.
A child I know. = A child I don't know.
Erik likes his job every day = Erik doesn't like his job every day.
My house stands in Utrecht.
A lawyer earns more money than a teacher.
A woman lives longer than a man.
Rachel and Ross kiss each other.
My parents and I go on holiday together.
I want to eat chewing gum.


text:
#import "GLGifExampleViewController.h"
#import "GifVideo.h"
#import "VideoSource.h"
#import "PlayerView.h"

@implementation GLGifExampleViewController

@synthesize okToRotate;

// The designated initializer. Override to perform setup that is required before the view is loaded.
- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil {
    if (self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil]) {
        // Custom initialization
        okToRotate = false;
    }
    return self;
}

/*
// Implement loadView to create a view hierarchy programmatically, without using a nib.
- (void)loadView {
}
*/

// Implement viewDidLoad to do additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    PlayerView *plView = (PlayerView*)self.view;

    // Load test.gif VideoSource
    NSString *str = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"test.gif" ofType:nil];
    FILE *fp = fopen([str UTF8String], "r");
    VideoSource *src = VideoSource_init(fp, VIDEOSOURCE_FILE);
    src->writeable = false;

    // Init video using VideoSource
    Video *vid = [[GifVideo alloc] initWithSource:src inContext:[plView context]];
    VideoSource_release(src);

    // Start if loaded
    if (vid) {
        [plView startAnimation:vid];
        [vid release];
        return;
    }

    // Cleanup if failed
    fclose(fp);
    return;
}

// Override to allow orientations other than the default portrait orientation.
- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation {
    // Return YES for supported orientations
    if (okToRotate)
        [(PlayerView*)self.view setTargetOrient:interfaceOrientation];
    return interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait;
}

- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning {
    [super didReceiveMemoryWarning]; // Releases the view if it doesn't have a superview
    // Release anything that's not essential, such as cached data
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [super dealloc];
}

@end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


School's almost out! Around here, we're looking for ways to keep our little readers turning the pages all summer long.
Have you signed up for any summer reading programs?
My kids are completely driven by stars on charts. We've been to our local library, which is the natural spot for a summer reading program since it's where we'll find most of our books to read. We scored a free book to kick off the summer, a chart and some suggested reading lists.
Still need some incentives or ideas?
Barnes & Noble - Sign up, read 8 books, keep a reading journal and earn a free book. You can also find a set of workbooks, a reading kit and suggested reading lists by age group.
Scholastic Summer Challenge - Can you read all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower? Scholastic is trying to set another World Record for number of minutes read and logged on their site. Sign up and log your minutes under your local school and earn rewards. Best part? A Summer Reading Challenge App with book lists, time tracking and a timer. It does take a bit of work to register all your kids and set them up on your phone, but then you can time and log your reading wherever your summer takes you.
Book Adventure by Sylvan - Start by creating an account. Use a handy tool to find books and save them to Your Book List. Read and come back to take quizzes and earn prizes.
TD Bank - Read 10 books, fill out your chart and earn $10 in a Young Saver Account. It literally pays to read.
Reading Rockets - This site has resources for professional librarians AND Parents. The book lists are built for ages 0-3,-3-6, and 6-9, including audio books. Their Start With A Book site is awesome for taking a book or a theme and creating activities to build on the book, such as worksheets, crafts and even mobile apps. They call them Reading Adventure Packs and we can't wait!
PotteryBarnKids Summer Reading Challenge - You can download a bookmark, reading list and progress tracker. Print off your certificate of completion and visit your local store for a free book. Some stores also have reading time on the calendar, through Aug 26th.
Don't forget to check for a reading program at your state level. A few links to get you started - Colorado, Michigan, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
What do you look for in a summer reading program? What motivates your kids?
I'm hoping this summer bucket list will help guide our choices when we have a long, hot afternoon to fill.


In November 2014 we are holding a major Whatawhata School - Our Future day to collect everyone's thoughts and ideas for the future direction of learning at the school. The map below shows the collated thoughts and ideas from this day. It will change and grow as we hear from and understand everyone's ideas.


Join bestselling novelist, Amanda Hampson, for an intense, highly productive workshop. Find out how to plunder your life for material, craft a killer premise, create a dynamic and sustainable protagonist, outwit your readers with plot reversals — and get it written! Participants need to be prepared to get involved, have some fun, share their work and be ready to write the opening sentence of their novel.
Smash Out Your Novel workshop with Amanda Hampson will give you the direction needed for your writing journey and the practical tools to get your first draft underway.


text:
Why is Islam Afraid of Barbie?
Daniel Greenfield April 30, 2008
TEHRAN: Iran's Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi has issued a dire warning about the culturally "destructive" consequences of importing Barbies, Harry Potter toys and more from the West.
"The displays of personalities such as Barbie, Batman, Spider-Man and Harry Potter ... as well as ... unsanctioned computer games and movies are all warning bells to the officials in the cultural arena," his letter added.
Najafabadi's warning comes almost six years after Tehran launched an unsuccessful campaign to confiscate Barbies.
There is of course the obvious reason, she's female. Barbie may only be a doll but she is female and the female is an Islamic taboo. In Islam the female form is an abomination, a neurosis and a source of powerful energy wrapped all in one.
Two years ago the police raided toy shops and put black stickers on the packaging of Barbie dolls to hide their bodies. Barbie contravenes Iran's rule that women must cover all bodily contours. Iran's rivals to Barbie and her partner, Ken, are Sara and Dara, who respect Islamic rules but do not enjoy Barbie's popularity.
But there are others too. Barbie is not simply a doll, any more than Harry Potter is just a boy wizard, Batman a man in a funny costume or Spider-Man is just a fellow in a red and black outfit who can climb walls. These toys and books that Iran is so outraged by are not simply objects, they are also subjects, they are characters in a narrative and the narrative is one that Islam's Mullahs, Ayatollahs and assorted riffraff in robes and turbans are not at all happy with.
Let's take another look at Barbie again. For all the beating that Barbie takes from Western critics, she is the creation of an independent woman and in her context is independent herself. She exists in a toy world where women can go out without being beaten and live their own lives without being killed. And she carries the assumptions inherent in that toy world with her wherever she goes.
It's an assumption that Americans may take for granted but that sense of personal destiny and individual freedom comes packaged with American cultural products. And while much of what we export may be junk, even our junk is accompanied by the basic premises of our culture, that individuals including women have rights. And that has a power constantly underestimated by Western cultural critics.
Inherent in the Barbie doll is the assumption that women can control how they look and where they go, an idea hateful to the rulers of Iran. When little Iranian girls play with Barbie, they take part in roleplaying with a female character devoid of their limitations.
And that is why Islam is afraid of Barbie, just as they are afraid of the rest of our culture. Not simply because some of it is sexualized, but because it is free of the Islamic code of behaviors, enforced by social consensus and terror.
Barbie, Batman, Harry Potter, Spider-Man and all the rest of the characters Iran is so worried about are individuals. They represent individual choices, whether it is hedonism or heroism. In Islamic societies where the young are expected to follow the old and women are expected to obey men, their very context defies those expectations.
In societies ruled by social conformity, Batman, Harry Potter, Spider-Man and most comic book characters carry the implicit liberalism of the American respect for what is different, for the right of the individual to be himself, to differ from his society and nevertheless to serve it.
And then there's the Jewish factor. Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, was Jewish. So was Bob Kane (Robert Kahn) the creator of Batman. As is Spider-Man creator Stan Lee (Stanley Lieber). To a regime obsessed with hating Jews, there is of course an inevitable need to "purge" Jewish culture, much as Ahmadinejad's role model in 1930's Germany did.
Finally these characters are non-Muslim role models in Islamic societies that reject and demonize non-Muslims. Batman, Spider-Man, etc are heroic, noble and brave. Virtues that the regime of Iran likes to reserve for its own "martyrs" -- but more than they represent an explicitly Western heroic tradition, one that believes in fair play, victory rather than death and the value of the individual.
At the heart of it that is why Islam fears Barbie, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, Batman and all the rest. Because they are individuals. They think for themselves, yet they act for the greater good, defying the totalitarian model of the individual as a natural hedonist who must be controlled by the rulers.
The Islamic tyrannies know that it takes conformity and obedience to send hundreds of thousands to their deaths. An individual is prepared to die, but he needs something worth dying for-- and Islam has nothing to offer in that regard but 72 Barbies in paradise.
Posted by: Daniel Greenfield at April 30, 2008
Keli Ata 30/4/08
Barbie in particular also represents something else the Muslims abhor--capitalism.
Barbie has a dream house, a dream camper, and closets full of dresses, hats and shoes.
Barbie never murdered anyone or cut them to pieces like they do. Barbie doesn't blow people up. Barbie doesn't murder children or force women to be non-persons whose bodies are considered dirty and in need of excess covering.
Barbie is sweet, innocent, lovely and cool and Jewish!!
They should send over Ken dolls! They'd really hate him. He liked girls and was nice to them. Ken was a gentleman. Ken never made Barbie or PJ cover their faces or bodies for that matter. :]
Ken wasn't a sissy either. He once fought GI Joe, of course that was because my brother said GI Joe could beat him up. Sadly, Ken nearly ended up in a doll hospital. It was humiliating.
Our Special Interview with the Reverend Jeremiah W...
Arafat and Mugabe: Diplomacy's Monsters
Israel and the Four Sons
70 Year Old IDF Ex-Paratrooper Defeats 3 Arab Burg...
What Makes Johnny Dhimmi Run Away? - Profiling th...
Saviors and Politicians - Saint Barack and the Gor...
Pesach - The Culture of Life and the Kingdom of Death
Friday Afternoon Roundup - Exodus, Hiatus, Good an...
Dem Congressman tries to smear McCain on Israel
When Birth Rates Collide - Coping with Immigrants ...
Memo to Europe, You're Israel
Obama's Coat of Many Colors
The Virus of Tolerance
A Pogrom from the Past, A Warning for the Future
Friday Afternoon Roundup - Iranian Weapons, Yankee...
Do You Want to Survive?
Does Obama attend a Church or a Mosque?
KGB Chief Gains Three MK's in the Knesset
Obama Expands Foreign Policy Team
Economy: The Democrats' Election Gameplan
Retarded Protest Tourist of the Day
Friday Afternoon Roundup - Terrorism, Imperialism ...
Liberal Apocalypse Now!
Rice as the Diplomat Fairy grants the Terrorist Wi...
Exclusive: Willie Barrow, the Third Farrakhan Joke...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It is advisable to try new things when it comes to physical fitness. This helps to kills boredom when one is exercising and it keeps the body guessing so that one is able to see the results that come from their hard work. This can be done by signing up for a 10K race that one has never taken part in. When one takes part in a new thing, there are many questions that will be asked to ensure that one is ready to take part in the activity.
Taking more carbs the days that precede the marathon is advised but this is not usually the case when it comes to a 10k race. It is advisable to make sure that one is eating smart especially the week before the race begins. The most important days are when the race is scheduled to take place and it is very important to avoid trying anything new. One is advised to try different foods while training and this will help one to know what works best for them. This depends from one runner to another but there are certain foods that work well with most runners. This includes banana, peanut butter, oatmeal, and yoghurt mixed with honey. It is important to take foods that provide the body with carbs and proteins before the race begins and should be given to one to digest.
It is important to invest in a good pair of sports shoes. When one takes an old pair of shoes that have been kept in the closet for a long time it can be a recipe for sport injuries. Going to the local running shop that has a treadmill is advised as this offers run analysis. An associate will help to note the miles that are taken when one logs in while training before the 10k. The associate will help to note any pronate i. e where the foot rolls inwards when one is landing on the ground and the arch height of the foot so that one can give a recommendation. Another key factor is wearing the appropriate clothing like a fabric that is sweat wicking and this should be done even in the cold seasons. It is important to wear it before the race begins to avoid wardrobe chafing and malfunctions.
This is helpful in ensuring one is on track with the set goals. This helps one to time themselves for example in cases where one has planned to run a 10k within a period of an hour. However, if one does not need to time themselves for the race it is not recommended to have it. This is because maintain the watch can have a negative effect where the runner becomes obsessed with maintaining a certain pace. The experts advice athletes to train using a time check and perceived effort rather than using pace and mileage. Therefore, one can opt to leave the watch at home when gong for the race or when going for the regular training runs.
It is wise to check out the course of the race before the race begins. This can typically be found in the map that can be located in the website of the event. One should note the major hills, rivers, bathrooms, curves and turns and where the water stops. It is also important to find out the time one can pick up their bib and whether the runners start in waves or together. In cases where they start in waves, one should find out the wave that they belong in and this is usually based on the speed where new people are positioned in the last wave. This means that the official time that one starts the race will be affected and this affects the time when one should eat and visit the toilet.
The race day should be made to be as stress free as possible. This can be done by arriving early at the venue and laying out the clothes in readiness, pinning the bib and attaching the time chip the night before. In cases where one still gets the butterflies before the race begins, it is advisable to try out a visualization exercise that is used by the pro athletes and the sports psychologists. This is done by closing the eyes and visualizing that one is winning the race. This helps to calm the nerves and it has also been shown to be helpful in winning the race.
There are several things that should be done before taking part in a 10k race. This includes ensuring that one has the right gear for the race, calming the pre-race jitters that cause anxiety and stress, checking the course of the race, taking carbs and proteins before the race.


When we look at some home interior designs on Pinterest, we will be inspired by them. It offers so many references from the users. We can also look for some ideas when we are confused about creating a valuable room in a small space. You can look up some small living room ideas which shown on Pinterest to inspire you in creating a nice living room space for the home member and guests. Here are some small living room ideas Pinterest that will inspire you to make a nice and interesting small living room in your home.
This small living room is done in soft tones. The genesis of its look is the pink glass table lamp on the left and the purple throw pillows. A wall mirror behind the gray sofa dissolve the room's boundaries and reflect light, making this space appear bigger.
A small patterned rug can be all we need in small living room ideas Pinterest. This living room features a colorful rug with the well-arranged furniture pieces. Only the wooden coffee table is placed right on the rug.
This modern small living room is made to look bigger by using a long couch with the vintage chairs and a minimalist coffee table. The bright color is also used for the windows and the room walls.
Small living room ideas Pinterest with multiple doors and windows are tricky spaces. It is a solution for a small space. The doors and windows will give nice lighting an open vibe for the living room.
Simple furniture items and decorations can be applied in a small living room. You should also do coordinate with the colors of the room. Maintaining a color-coordinate design will keep it looks simple.
Some small living room ideas Pinterest come with large windows and pop color. This small living room has a glass door, a wide windows, gray sofas, white walls, white ceiling, as well as the pop accents. The muted tones with a sunny pop color create a welcoming atmosphere for everyone to visit.
You can go with the Scandinavian palette which most people are familiar with. Combined it with pastel colors that can balance the softness of the small living room.
Using one large piece of artwork instead of several small ones will make space feel larger and less cluttered. This modern living room also offers a beige sofa and a modern round coffee table.
Acrylic chair or table is often used in small living room ideas Pinterest. Add an invisibility cloak for the furniture, anything made of clear acrylic is an excellent choice to fill the small living room.
If you can't afford the coffee table you really want, you can use a pair of small wooden tables. These two tables make a good coffee table and are easily rearranged.


Teso la Monja was founded by the fourth generation of the Eguren Family. The family fell in love with Toro more than 15 years ago, seduced by its prephylloxera vines. The family founded the winery determined to create elegant and pure wines that expressed the beauty of the terroir. The Eguren family and Jorge Ordóñez were the original founders of the project Bodegas Numanthia, which is responsible, along with their current work, for the resurrection of D.O. Toro as one of Spain's pre-eminent wine regions. Long ago, the town of Toro was famous for producing the finest red wine in Spain. Mentioned in the historic literature of Alfonso IX (King of León, 12th c.), Juan Ruiz the Archpriest of Hita, Quevedo, Luis de Góngora, and Miguel de Cervantes. In 14th Century Sevilla, the sale of any foreign wine was prohibited, save the wines of Toro. These wines accompanied Spanish explorers to the New World.


text:
Telmary to represent the Cuban alternative music scene in Mexico
Mar 28th, 2018 +
In this article: Cuba, Culture, Mexico, society, Song
SINGER Telmary Díaz, from the hip-hop scene, has been selected to participate in the Guadalajara International Music Fair, FIMPRO 2018, one of the most important Latin music forums on the international circuit, to be held May 23 through 27.
The Interactivo member was chosen from among 600 groups, of which 15 made the final cut and obtained their ticket to perform showcases before music industry specialists from Europe, the United States, and Latin America.
This is the first time that an artist from Cuba will feature as part of the festival in Mexico, where Telmary will perform hits from several stages of her career with Free Hole Negro, Interactivo, and as a solo artist.
Mexican journalist and music critic Betto Arcos, moderator and curator of FIMPRO, believes that Telmary's presence is an excellent opportunity for international producers to learn not only about her career, but different aspects of the Cuban alternative scene.
"In contrast to dance music or typically Cuban music (salsa, timba, jazz), rock, Cuban hip-hop, and almost all alternative music have been somewhat isolated from the rest of Latin America and their presence has not been felt in festivals or in markets on the continent. For the first time, a large community of the independent music industry in Latin America, Europe, and the United States will have the opportunity to listen to a group from the new Cuban generation, with a leader who is firmly based on ancestral roots, and who points with her work toward the future. Telmary is one of the most important female voices of her generation and her project will be a great contribution to FIMPRO 2018," Arcos told Granma.
Telmary released the album A Diario (with Bis Music) in 2005, with which she established herself as one of the most versatile voices in contemporary Cuban music and a composer with a critical conscience whose lyrics emphasize women's empowerment in processes of social change. This edition of the festival will include concerts, workshops, conferences, business forums and meetings on the Latin alternative music market.


text:
Book of the Week: The life of Claire Tomalin, toast of London literati
Marion McLeod | Guest writer
Marion McLeod reviews a memoir by author Claire Tomalin, who is candid about her affair with Martin Amis but maintains a classic English reserve.
Sixties London. Claire Tomalin is the wife of Nick Tomalin, a brilliant, handsome young journalist and war correspondent. Claire is too modest to say so in her autobiography, but the photos show that she too is extremely attractive. The Tomalins are the 1960s personified: a gilded young couple, dancing at The Establishment, Peter Cook's new club, or at a party given by Mary Quant.
In 1961 Claire and Nick have three daughters. A son had died shortly after birth; a second would be born later. When Claire goes for a post-natal check, her doctor takes a packet from his desk, leans forward and smiles: "You might like to try this new form of contraception – it's a pill you take. Very easy to use." Recalling the moment, Tomalin writes: "A new era had arrived . . . it would change the balance of power between the sexes."
But the new era wasn't quite what she expected. "Suddenly I found myself living through the most banal of stories, as the neglected wife of a faithless husband." Nick has fallen in love with the office beauty. Claire lives and re-lives this scenario. Her husband moves as rapidly from beauty to beauty as he does from newspaper to newspaper.
Claire's response to her husband's serial infidelity seems to me amazingly dispassionate and forbearing. Mind you, she's telling it from five decades out. Now 84, she is happily married to playwright and novelist Michael Frayn.
Nick left and returned, left and returned. It was the 60s. The moral climate was changing fast. The Profumo case hit the headlines. "My behaviour changed too. I could say that Nick's carryings-on over the past few years had had their effect, but it may be that I simply moved with the times.
Claire Tomalin in the 1960s. Photo from her memoir
Claire's 30th birthday was just around the corner when she was wooed by "a clever and likeable journalist" and decided "almost on the spur of the moment" to embark on an affair.
Predictably enough, given that Nick was then a gossip columnist, he got wind of this state-of-affairs. Claire was alone in the kitchen when he arrived home. He advanced on her with clenched fists raised to punch her in the face. "I ducked. His blow broke the wooden bar that held the roller towel on the larder door, where I was standing – I have kept it ever since as a reminder."
The marriage continues. Domesticity occupies most of Claire's time, though paid work occasionally comes her way – book reviews, reading for a publisher, even a role in a literary television show.
Both work and play involve meeting famous writers, some rather intimidating. "Philip Roth, whom I first met at this time, remarked that I looked like a literary person." This, Claire understood, was not a compliment.
She was still first and foremost Mrs Nick Tomalin. When Nick was literary editor of the New Statesman in the mid-sixties, Kingsley Martin, the magazine's former editor, and his wife invited the Tomalins to lunch at their home on the Sussex Downs. Claire recalls a pleasant enough visit. She passed the time watching the birds playing on the bird tables outside the window and took little part in the conversation. "Afterwards we went on to tea with Leonard Woolf."
Now there's nothing inherently funny about that sentence but it made me laugh extravagantly and I quote it as warning. Or enticement. This is a book liberally sprinkled with celebrities, most of them, though not all, scribes. Sprinkled isn't quite the word Claire Tomalin would use – the prose is dense with literati. Of course it is. When the young Tomalin family moves into a house in Gloucester Crescent, ten minutes from Regent's Park, their neighbours include Jonathan and Rachel Miller, Freddie Ayers, the philosopher, and Ursula Vaughan Williams, the composer's widow. George and Diana Melly move into the street shortly afterwards, followed by publishers Colin and Anna Haycraft (Alice Thomas Ellis) and Beryl Bainbridge. And a few years later Alan Bennett.
It's not name-dropping – just a matter-of-fact account of the 'hood. And, as Claire Tomalin's career takes off, the circle extends to her many literary colleagues.
When Philip Roth told Tomalin she looked like a literary person, he clearly foresaw what she was to become: first, literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times, and then acclaimed author of thorough and thoroughly readable lives: Mary Wollstonecraft, Shelley, Katherine Mansfield, Dickens, Jane Austen, Samuel Pepys, Thomas Hardy.
And now a life of her own, a selfie.
Claire Tomalin when literary editor at the London Sunday Times. Photo from her memoir
Tomalin is Anglo- French. She was born Claire Delavenay in 1933 in London, the second daughter of Emile Delavenay, an academic from Savoy in the French Alps, and his wife Muriel Herbert, a composer from Liverpool. Claire found the French name Delavenay very useful: "Having a foreign name . . . gave me a special sort of freedom, because the English could not easily place me."
Emile and Muriel met in London: both students, both lonely. Marriage made them lonelier still, though their first child Marguerite brought joy to both. Not so Claire. Her mother loved her but her father vehemently rejected her: he had not wanted a second child. "As soon as I was aware of anything I knew my father disliked me. He did his best to make my sister his ally against me. We became a divided family."
Both parents, as Claire remembers it, existed on the brink of madness. "She made scenes, embarrassed him in front of other people, threw things at him, threatened suicide. Yet, as soon as they were separated, she pulled herself together and behaved with admirable courage and good sense. "
Claire seems remarkably untrammelled by it all. She behaves with admirable courage and good sense through childhood, adolescence, and custody battles. Who knows? Perhaps the early conflict prepared her for drama to come.
Or perhaps it was all that reading. By eight, Claire is at boarding school, a confirmed bookworm: the Brontes, Black Beauty, Dickens, the Golden Treasury. For her 13th birthday she asks her mother for the two-volume Shorter Oxford.
Claire Tomalin aged four. Photo from her memoir
She studied English at Newnham College in Cambridge. She became a good friend of Karl Miller (founder of the London Review of Books) who became co-editor of Granta, then the student newspaper. His co-editor was the charismatic Nick Tomalin. She married him in 1955, for better and for worse. Though she doesn't quite come out and say it, she should have married Karl Miller, with whom she remained close to for 60 years.
Claire got a First, of course, but nobody suggested she go on to research. Her father booked her into a Secretarial Training College in London. Despite her shiny new shorthand typing, the BBC rejected Claire. They didn't take women. The next alternative was an interview at Heinemann's: her father knew one of the directors.
"This was 1955. As I walked through an outer office to the room where Roland Gant, who would be my boss, was sitting, I passed another man. After fifteen minutes' talk with Roland, this man – he was James Michie, a poet – came silently in and put down a folded piece of paper on Roland's desk. I thought nothing of it, but later, when we were all friends, they told me that they had agreed that James would give me marks out of ten for my looks. I got seven, just enough to be offered the job as secretary/editorial assistant."
They were pulling her leg, surely. Apparently not.
Claire was engaged that year, married shortly afterwards, and soon a mother. The family scenes are the warmest in the book, nicely counterbalancing the work life and providing a rhythm to the narrative. Tomalin has practised and perfected this art by writing the lives of others. She knows how to shape.
When she was 36, Claire gave birth to a fifth child, a second son, Tom, who had spina bifida. Claire fell in love with him and his life changed the family for the better as a series of nannies joined the family. One very successful and much-loved "nanny" was a young Chris Reid – the poet Christopher Reid, who in time became Poetry Editor at Fabers.
The Tomalin marriage lasted, in up-and-down fashion, till 1973. But it was death which finally parted Claire and Nick. He was killed by a Syrian missile while reporting on the Yom Kippur war from the Golan Heights. He was 41, just two weeks from his 42nd birthday.
Claire writes frankly of her reactions to Nick's death. She grieves but she also thinks, "NOW!" (her caps). Now she could start again. Everything was changed. "I knew I had to make my own working life, and my own independent emotional life."
Like her mother before her, Claire was resilient and hard-working. A couple of years earlier she had written an article about Mary Wollstonecraft. Publishers had written asking Claire to write a full-length study book of the eighteenth-century feminist who was suddenly fashionable. Tomalin signed with an agent and began research. At full tilt: "I knew I had at last found my vocation."
This hugely simplified summary of Claire Tomalin's life leaves out much. There were tragic times. The suicide of a child is discussed with great candour. She deals straightforwardly, too, with various liaisons – her well-known affair with Martin Amis, for instance. "He was twenty-five and I was forty and we surprised one another." Later, her friendship with Michael Frayn turned to something more, and the couple started living together. "Middle-aged love proved stronger than anything I had known before, and enduring." It also caused pain for Frayn's wife and three daughters but his wife was generous – Tomalin stresses this – and slowly the situation was resolved.
I suspect it is much easier to write somebody else's life than to write one's own. The research required for a biography may be more time-consuming. But perhaps less complex. Writing of the illustrious dead – of Dickens or Pepys or Jane Austen – obviously allows for detachment. Having done the detective work, the biographer is then free to deduce motivation and emotion.
When you're writing about yourself, you're first and foremost mining memory. Tomalin wants to play fair. She wants to be honest, which tends to grow harder with distance. She remains measured and dignified – cool, even. There's a curious detachment.
I enjoyed Tomalin's Life (and Tomalin's life) very much. She writes deft, immensely readable prose. If I have a reservation, it's very slight and quite unfair. It's her reticence, that English reticence. I admire it enormously but frequently wish it gone.
A Life of My Own by Claire Tomalin (Penguin/Viking, $55) is available at Unity Books.
We're all going on a summer holiday: life as a teenage New Zealander in the 1960s
Black exodus and white supremacy: a rediscovered 1962 novel, reviewed
Tom Augustine
Summer reissue: Madeleine Chapman on co-writing Steven Adams' autobiography
Madeleine Chapman