The chest X-ray remains one of the most useful diagnostic tools available to the physician when presented with a patient demonstrating a range of clinical signs, from obvious breathing difficulties to a possible heart attack. Unlike X-ray images of many other parts of the body which will tend to be interpreted for the clinician by the radiologist, the interpretation of the chest X-ray will be performed by the clinician and used to determine the nature of a particular problem. Paul Jenkins, an experienced clinician with extensive experience in teaching the interpretation of the chest X-ray to both medical students and junior doctors, shares with the reader a practical approach to differential diagnosis, emphasising the link between radiographic appearances and clinical findings. In addition to high quality photographs and explanatory line diagrams, the explanatory text is supplemented by numerous text features including 'clinical considerations', 'pearls of wisdom' and 'hazards'.