The ultimate aim of patient evaluation process is to reach a diagnosis and initiate the most logical and appropriate therapeutic intervention. For this, one acquires knowledge from textbooks, electronic media and clinical observations and tries to use it for the desired aim in a given patient. However, it is easier said than done. What helps one most is the step-wise logical approach. This book is an attempt in that direction. The book has stated limited objective of bridging the gap between the didactics of a larger textbook and the experience of seasoned physicians. It is therefore, quite different from a textbook. In a no-nonsense manner it focuses on an algorithmic approach to decision making in clinical medicine. All right-sided pages have algorithms while the left-sided pages carry brief explanations. A few references have been provided for each topic. The book is divided into 5 sections. The first section on General Medicine deals with 12 common symptoms in day-to-day practice and also includes a chapter each on Preventive Health Services for Adults and Perioperative evaluation. The second section on Internal Medicine is devoted to the common problems pertaining to different subspecialities of Medicine including a section each on Dermatology, Women's Health and Urology. The third section on Emergency Medicine includes conditions like acute pulseless extremity, foreign body ingestion, caustic ingestion and exposure, human and animal bites, snake venom poisoning, hypothermia, drowning and near drowning. The fourth section on Behavioral Medicine should be of interest to both the psychiatrists and the internists as it includes each routine problem like alcoholism, anxiety, depression, grief, psychosis, smoking cessation, suicidal patient etc. The last section on Pharmacology deals with approach to acute and long-term anticoagulation, evaluation of adverse drug reactions, antimicrobial use and evaluation of drugs. It is obvious that the book should be of interest to a wide spectrum of medical and paramedical personnel at various levels. Because of its different and somewhat novel approach it tries to amalgamate the textbook knowledge and pragmatism. Inclusion of some more emergencies in the section on Emergency Medicine and some more common drugs in the Pharmacology section will enhance its utility. The book should be of great help to the general practitioners, internists and residents alike in organizing their thought process and adopting a systematic approach to management in a variety of common clinical situations. This will mean ordering investigations in an appropriate manner and thus cutting the cost for the patient-an important factor in medicare, especially in developing countries. The print quality is good and the hardbbound edition is quite reasonably priced.