The first volume of the Handbook deals with the amazing world of biomembranes and lipid bilayers.
Part B covers membrane adhesion, membrane fusion and the interaction of biomembranes with
polymer networks such as the cytoskeleton. The first two chapters of this part discuss the generic interactions of membranes from the conceptual point of view. The following two chapters summarize the experimental work on two different bilayer systems. The next chapter deals with the process of
contact formation, focal bounding and macroscopic contacts between cells. The cytoskeleton within eucaryotic cells consists of a network of relatively stiff filaments of which three different types of filaments have been identified. As explained in the next chapter much has been recently learned about
the interaction of these filaments with the cell membrane. The final two chapters deal with membrane fusion.