It is fourteen years since insulin was last reviewed in The Handbook of Ex- perimental Pharmacology, in volume 32. The present endeavor is more modest in scope. Volume 32 appeared in two separate parts, each having its own subeditors, and together the two parts covered nearly all areas of insulin pharmacology. Such comprehensiveness seemed impractical in a new volume. The amount of in- formation related to insulin that is now available simply would not fit in a reasonable amount of space. Furthermore, for better or worse, scientists have be- come so specialized that a volume providing such...