Book excerpt: X-Ray Lasers 2004 comprises invited, contributed, and poster papers presented at the 9th International Conference on X-Ray Lasers (ICXRL2004) held in Beijing in May 2004. Some 120 participants from 13 countries and regions met in Beijing to compare results and exchange views on future developments in x-ray lasers and related fields. The book covers the following topics: overviews of x-ray lasers research, collisionally pumped x-ray lasers, capillary discharge-pumped x-ray lasers, OFI and photo-pumped x-ray lasers, high-order harmonics XUV radiation, grazing incidence pumping x-ray lasers, theory and simulations of x-ray lasers and plasma media, free-electron lasers and accelerator-based x-ray sources, alternative pumping schemes for x-ray lasers, applications of x-ray lasers and other bright x-ray sources, x-ray optics and instrumentation, investigations of x-ray laser media, and developments of x-ray laser drivers. X-Ray Lasers 2004 provides not only an overview and an up-to-date progress report on this fast moving field, but also important reference material on which future work can be built.