This book comes from decades of teaching physiological principles
to advanced undergraduates, graduate students and medical students.
It has been written for those who are dissatisfied with the just
good-enough analyses for examining acid-base status. The
information it contains, though, is not new. The physical chemical
and biochemical fundamentals it quotes have been known for years.
Why, then, has a book like this one not appeared before? There are
several reasons, most of which bear on the unavoidably reductionist
quality of information in the basic sciences. HION compiles the
more pertinent concepts found only in the original scientific
literature into an easily read, accurate and internally consistent
story of how the body's hydrogen ion concentration is
established. It is more a translation and interpretation of the
existing scientific literature than it is a contribution to it.
Just reviewing the book's main physiological, biomedical and
clinical information gives a much more detailed, integrated and
useful basis for understanding acid-base status, than does reading
any contemporary textbook.
