The liver has been an organ of mystery for centuries. Slowly but surely its secrets have been disclosed by both basic research and clinically oriented investigators whose current concepts have been brought together in this book by authors from five different countries. Three major groups with many subgroups have made inroads into our better understanding of the liver. The first of these comprises the basic scientists whose study of single hepatocytes may provide the key to comprehension of mechanisms that will lead eventually to improvement in the morbidity and mortality associated with a variety of hepatic disorders. The second group has been concerned with studies in depth of the liver's response to a variety of hormones, drugs, viruses, and infections. Both early and late results are their concern in the diagnosis and treatment of the individual patient. A third group comprises the surgeons who have become increasingly aggressive in the removal of one or more segments of the liver. They have increased the scope of hepatic resection as a result of a better understanding gained from studies of various segments of the liver. They have accepted the term, segmentectomy, and have extended feasible procedures to include trisegmentectomy. Indeed, trans plantation of the liver has been successfully accomplished."

This unique volume may very well foreshadow the treatment of renal disease in the twenty-first century. The editors have obviously compiled and reviewed the current clinical problems in which the kidney plays a major role. They then selected as topics for chapters those in which recent scientific investigations have added significant new data. The investigators themselves or their peers have been persuaded to produce a summary of current concepts of renal structure and function for each topic. The result is a volume which will be as invaluable as a clinical guide on the laboratory bench as it will be a reference for the clinician seeking guidance to rational therapy at the bedside. The strength of the volume lies in the incorporation of those data on renal cellular structure and function which hold the key to the etiology of the majority of renal diseases we now call 'end-stage'. Fully, two-thirds of the volume is devoted to current concepts of renal function and related subcellular structure of various renal tissues. The illustrations, correlations, and explanations are superbly presented in much detail and with an obvious effort to fill out the current knowledge of each subject. We may anticipate this book will remain a valuable reference for many years to come.