As I unwrapped this weighty tome from the protective cardboard packaging it was delivered in, my first thought was “if this is basic mechanisms of respiratory disease, what on earth does advanced mechanisms look like?”. However, my fears were allayed somewhat on opening the book and being eased into things gently by cystic fibrosis who greeted me on the first page like an old friend, before reappearing in many of the subsequent 38 chapters to light my way.

Browsing through the Contents section, I was pleased to see chapters on “Heart–lung interactions” and “Pulmonary circulation”, illustrative of the book’s ability to bring together different aspects of paediatric practice and highlight the interactions of different organ …