Book excerpt: The second edition of The Lung: Development, Aging and the Environment provides an understanding of the multi-faceted nature of lung development, aging, and how the environment influences these processes. As an essential resource to respiratory, pulmonary, and thoracic scientists and physicians it provides an interface between the "normal and "disease cluster of chapters, allowing for a natural complement to each other. The interface between different lung diseases affecting the pediatric lung also adds a useful source for comparing how different lung diseases share key pathophysiological features. This same complementarity comes across in the logical line up of chapters dealing with the "normal pediatric lung. New research, including cell-based strategies for infant lung function, epigenetics, and prenatal alcohol exposure on lung development and function are some of the important additions to this edition of this reference work. - Describes the normal processes of lung development, growth and aging - Considers the effects of the environmental contaminants in the air, water, soil, and diet on lung development, growth and health - Describes genetic factors involved in susceptibility to lung disease - Covers respiratory health risk in children