Knot Theory is currently a very broad field. Even a long survey can only
cover a narrow area. Here we concentrate on the path from Goeritz matrices to
quasi-alternating links. On the way, we often stray from the main road and tell
related stories, especially if they allow as to place the main topic in a
historical context. For example, we mention that the Goeritz matrix was
preceded by the Kirchhoff matrix of an electrical network. The network
complexity extracted from the matrix corresponds to the determinant of a link.
We assume basic knowledge of knot theory and graph theory, however, we offer a
short introduction under the guise of a historical perspective. Chapter IV of
the book "KNOTS: From combinatorics of knot diagrams to combinatorial topology
based on knots will be based on this survey,