ABSTRACT
You have just opened this book, are slowly reading the first lines and starting to build up an impression of what may be contained in the following pages. How can we give you, the reader, an idea of the book’s importance for us, what drove us to devote much energy and time to writing the first edition and why we have spent many months working as a team of four authors, rather than three, to revise it for this second edition? Wistful thoughts like these invade the consciousness of many authors sitting in front of a manuscript that has achieved a certain status – or at least size – through being written, rewritten and finally polished. It is now to be given the last finishing touch: the introduction, which will introduce some key ideas and whet the reader’s appetite to read on.
