This book is the outcome of a cardiologist switching to clinical pharma­ cology in mid-career and may be seen as representing the interface between the two disciplines. In this second edition I have not tried to be encyclopaedic, but have asked the contributors to give a brief account of current practice, so that it represents the present state of cardiac thera­ peutics. Although some contributors are from Bart's, I have tried to spread my net widely and produce a general view from the English speaking world. I hope this will be enough to draw the teeth of my colleagues who will react at once to say that 'this is not what we do at Bart's. ' Some chapters, mostly the early ones, are drug orientated and describe the use and properties of individual groups of drugs. Other later chapters are disease orientated and describe the use of various groups of drugs in different conditions, such as angina or hypertension. This necessarily leads to some overlap, but I have not tried to produce a uniformity of view, but have been content with Chairman Mao 'to let a hundred flowers bloom'. I am grateful to my cardiological colleague, Professor A. John Camm for his help and advice on current cardiological practice. To improve the flow of the text I have limited the references to key publications, rather than trying to quote all the papers published on each topic.