Foreword

It is truly amazing what has happened with our understanding of liver physiology and pathophysiology over the last decades. We had black-box perceptions of what goes on in the liver as it could be judged from events in the systemic blood stream – much like earlier times’ understanding of the white spots on the maps of the big continents from what comes out with the rivers. Now, we have observational and experimental, non-invasive, true time, in vivo, direct, visualizing, functional, and molecular methods and we are eagerly filling up the canyons of lack of knowledge. This eBook reports a contemporary up-to-date snap-shot of this development. And better: this eBook is not a description of a completed travel after the main station has been reached – it is merely a situation report from a humble halt from which we know the train will continue up the tracks with increasing pace and load. This scientific journey brings to mind the famous words of one of the greatest hepatologists of all times, Danish Niels Steensen (1638-1686): “Beautiful is what we see; more beautiful is what we perceive; but most beautiful of all is what we do not perceive”. Thus encouraged and spirited, I recommend this eBook to discerning readers of the poetry and epic of what the liver really is and does.