Book excerpt: This issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine focuses on Sepsis. Articles include: The changing epidemiology and definition of sepsis; risk stratification and prognosis in sepsis: what have we learned from biomarkers and microarrays?; Sepsis outside the ICU: development and implementation of sepsis alert systems; The use of ultrasound in caring for the septic patient; Sepsis resuscitation: Fluid choice and dose; Beyond the golden hours: caring for the septic patient after the initial resuscitation; Vasopressors during sepsis: selection and targets; Dysglycemia and glucose control during sepsis; Cardiac function and dysfunction in sepsis;Goal Directed Resuscitation in Septic Shock; and more!