Book excerpt: Current understanding of neurological disease has been evolving over the past 150 years. With the increasing and earlier sub-specialization of neurology trainees, and their variable exposure to higher academic study, there is little opportunity to put this development into a historical context as a whole. Understanding the 'evidence-base', or appreciating the lack of it in some cases, is an important part of training but this is rarely presented in a palatable, entertaining form. Part of the Landmark Papers in series, this book brings together the ten most important papers for each sub-speciality within neurology, covering the full range of major neurological conditions. Papers have been selected by leading international experts, who not only summarize what each paper showed, but place them into a wider context that makes a coherent story of how their sub-speciality has developed.