(From CV Network, publication of the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences) – “It is a fundamental property of all forms of life to adapt to changes in environment.” So begins the preface of Cardiac Adaptations (Springer), a 465-page tome focusing on molecular and biochemical mechanisms involved in modifying myocardial characteristics in health and disease. It is one of 3 books that Dr. Naranjan Dhalla, Distinguished Professor of Physiology, University of Manitoba, and Director of Cardiovascular Developments, St. Boniface Hospital Research, recently co-edited with international stars of cardiac research from Canada, the USA, Japan and the Czech Republic. And while adapting to change is the theme of this book, it also plays a large part in Dhalla’s emergence as an icon of heart research – not only in his adopted hometown of Winnipeg or his birthplace India, but in the world.