Foreword: Why a textbook? Why this textbook?

In this era of social connectivity, it is often asked, “What is the role for textbooks?”

It is a valid question that is common to many fields of endeavour when speed seems to trump all other aspects of communication. There is indeed a knowledge explosion but not necessarily a wisdom explosion. The earliest cardiology texts I became aware of were single-authored ones such as Lewis’s and Freidberg’s. That was a time when cardiology was barely a specialty, but more an integral component of internal medicine. The purpose of “the book” was to transmit the thoughts of the masters to those who studied at their feet. As cardiology became more and more complex, it was necessary to have multiauthored texts guided by the mentors, and Hurst’s “The Heart” and Braunwald’s “Textbook of Cardiology” emerged. Multiauthorship and comprehensive cardiology has now yielded to multiple disciplines within cardiology. Interventional cardiovascular medicine is clearly the most dominant discipline, and although slightly more than 35 years old, has experienced a knowledge explosion during this era when information technology questions everything about how we communicate.

So, here we are with social networking at our fingertips at all times. The latest breakthrough or collapse of a technology...