Book excerpt: Handbook of Blood Gas/Acid-Base Interpretation, 2nd edition, simplifies concepts in blood gas/acid base interpretation and explains in an algorithmic fashion the physiological processes for managing respiratory and metabolic disorders. With this handbook, medical students, residents, nurses, and practitioners of respiratory and intensive care will find it possible to quickly grasp the principles underlying respiratory and acid-base physiology, and apply them. Uniquely set out in the form of flow-diagrams/algorithms charts, this handbook introduces concepts in a logically organized sequence and gradually builds upon them. The treatment of the subject in this format, describing processes in logical steps makes it easy for the reader to cover a difficult- and sometimes dreaded- subject rapidly.