When I arrived at the Physiological Flow Studies Unit, Imperial College, in 1971, the writing of The Mechanics of the Circulation was already underway. The book had been commissioned by Oxford University Press to be delivered in 1972 and the Tuesday afternoon book meeting was a regular event. From the outset, the purpose of the book was seen as presenting cardiovascular mechanics in a rigorous but accessible way. It was not meant to be a textbook, but an introduction to the subject that would be useful to a wide range of readers from medical students to experts in either mechanics or cardiovascular physiology.

The Mechanics of the Circulation was finally published in 1978 and it was obvious that the authors had succeeded in their purpose. It was a truly interdisciplinary book, its authors having trained in medicine, mathematics and engineering, but there was a continuity of style and content that remains unusual in multidisciplinary, multi-author books. Individual authors wrote the first drafts of the different sections of the book closest to their expertise, but they all had an equal say in the final product which, as evidenced by the time it took to write the book and the heat that was generated in those weekly meetings, was no easy task. The book had an enormous impact on the emerging field of cardiovascular mechanics and, by extension, on the development of the discipline of bioengineering as an essentially multidisciplinary field of study. It was reprinted and published as a paperback.

The book had an enormous impact on the emerging field of cardiovascular mechanics and, by extension, on the development of the discipline of bioengineering as an essentially multidisciplinary field of study. It was reprinted and published as a paperback.