Acknowledgements

How this book found its publisher is an unusual story. One of the authors was meeting with a sales representative of another publishing company. In the course of that conversation, it was discovered that these two people had a mutual friend—a person who had encouraged the author to publish his first academic book about a dozen years back when this friend was working for another publisher. The sales representative passed along to the mutual friend that they (the author and the sales rep) had met. That resulted in an e-mail reunion between the author and his old friend, who let it be known that she now works for a textbook publishing company then called Flat World Knowledge. “Gee, would the company be interested in a one-semester general, organic, and biochemistry text?” was the flippant response. Wrong—or right, depending on your perspective—comment to make! Within an hour (no joke), the editorial director of the company was on the phone with the author, discussing the project and its possibilities. That talk lead to a discussion between all the authors on the team, a visit by the editorial director to the first author’s hometown, and the subsequent signing of a contract for the book to be published by Flat World Knowledge. So the initial thanks must go to Jen Welchans of Flat World Knowledge for being the right person at the right place and the right time. You never know when old friends will meet again and make good things happen. Thanks, Jen.

Thanks to Michael Boezi, the former editorial director of Flat World Knowledge, who always gave enthusiastic support to this project. Thanks also to Jenn Yee, project manager, who deftly dealt with 3 authors, 20 chapters, multiple reviews, production issues, illustrations, and photos—and seemed to keep it all straight. Kudos to the former Flat World Knowledge technology team, who had the ultimate job of getting this book out: Brian Brennan, David Link, Christopher Loncar, Jessica Carey, Jon Gottfried, Jon Williams, Katie Damo, Keith Avery, Mike Shnaydman, Po Ki Chui, and Ryan Lowe. We would also like to thank the production team at Scribe, Inc., including Stacy Claxton, Chrissy Chimi, Melissa Tarrao, and Kevin McDermott. This book would not exist without these people.

This project has benefited tremendously from the feedback of reviewers at several stages in its development. We thank the following people for their input:

Thanks to ANSR Source, who performed accuracy checks on various parts of the text. Should any inaccuracies remain, they are the responsibility of the authors. We hope that readers will let us know if they find any; one of the beauties of the FlatWorld process is the ability to update the textbook quickly, so that it will be an even better book tomorrow.

Special thanks to our colleague Alexis Felty and students Micah Chiaprakorb and Ethan Park for performing an accuracy check of the second edition. Their exquisite attention to detail helped make sure that this book is more error-free, and we greatly appreciate their efforts.

On a more personal level: RJS would like to thank her colleagues at Southern Adventist University and her family and friends for their help and encouragement during her work on this book. She is especially indebted to her sons, Michael and Chris, for their patience and encouragement. DWB thanks his wife, Gail, for things too numerous to mention but in particular the constant support of and appreciation for the vagaries of an academic life and for being the single parent on those nights when professional obligations keep him out later than normal. Thanks also to his sons, Stuart and Alex—the proverbial causes of gray hair—for being two of the (many) things worth living and writing for.

Our colleague, John W. Hill, passed away before the publication of the second edition of this title. He had prepared his acknowledgements earlier and in his memory we include them here. We dedicate this book to him. 

JWH owes a special thanks to his wonderful spouse, Ina, for doing so many things that allow him time to concentrate on writing. Most of all, he is grateful for her boundless patience, unflagging support, understanding, and enduring love. He is also grateful to his beloved daughter, Cindy, for her help with the house and the yard and so many other things.

Finally, much appreciation to Vicki Brentnall, digital content manager at FlatWorld who shepherded the second edition through. The entire process was much less painful because of Vicki and her willingness to explore increasingly impossible requests from the authors  about increasingly minute issues.  

DWB

JWH

RJS

January 2018