The work of formulating and honing our arguments for this book entailed many informal get-togethers at our respective homes over a period of several years with the inevitable result that a considerable amount of excellent food was consumed in order that our brains might be nourished. This stimulus for thought would not have been so effi cacious, however, without ongoing discussion and exchange of ideas with colleagues and friends on both sides of Mount Royal as well as further afield in just about every corner of the world.