Customer Reviews

Acupuncture Without Needles

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First - I'm not Gail, I'm her husband, Bill. I got my first issue of this book in 1981 and have not been without it since. To say that the information is dated is true, but Chinese medicine is thousands of years old and still widely used throughout the the world. The pressure points and ailments have not changed as humanity has evolved, therefore being "dated" does not truely apply to this book. Every time I use the ABC program I am amazed. I've mainly used it on my wife for lower back problems and a bi-polar disorder, but over the years we have used it for many ailments. It's even more astonishing that my fingers can accomplish what medical chemistry does - but without the side effect. However we still do as the book suggests - about always consulting your family doctor. This book is as much a part of my first aid kit or medicine cabinet as a bandaid or asprin. I have read and purchased several books on acupressure, many are very good but I always come back to this one as my standard. The copy I have now is worn and torn, time to buy a new one. Thanks Amazon for having it on your list.

J. V. Cerney does a great job of making acupuncture benefits available at home with his system of Acupressure. It uses fingertip pressure in place of needles for locating and stimulating acupuncture points. The abundant illustrations are clear, and the text is well written. Cerney provides a steady stream of case histories which elucidate and encourage

I follow this book alongside Michael Reed Gach's book, for proper locations of the points, because in JV Cerney's book, it's sometimes difficult to find the acupuncture pts. On my first day of trying the pts. suggested in the book, I worked my pts. for the lung meridian, the next day I was coughing up mucous and phlegm. I love this book. I find out where I am having problems in my body. Love it!

There are countless massage books, but there are few books written in English about using accupressure. This book has too much hyperbole, and I am skeptical of many of its claims. However, I have successfully used some of the accupressure points for relieving pain and migraine. I think the hand drawn diagrams are very useful. The book is heavily influenced by traditional Chinese medicine, but is partially Americanized and I find it far more useful than traditional Chinese textbooks.

In summary, this book could be improved, but it is very useful as it is.

I agree with the second reviewer. The writing style is that of hukstar snake oil health food advertisement. It is also explains things poorly. The diagrams are labeled with handwritten notes making them hard to read. The diagrams don't match the descriptions. Hardly any background information is given to "why" you are doing one thing as opposed to another. The directions suck. You don't have an easy sense of knowing what you are doing

This book is very poorly illustrated. The author seems more interested in showing details of the person's hairstyle and clothing than clearly showing where the pressure points are. In some cases there is no pressure point indicated although the name of the point is given. I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking to become proficient in acupressure.

I agree with the second reviewer about the writing style. It reads like a huckster miracle food ad pamphlet. The diagrams are labeled with handwritten notes that are hard to read. The descriptions of the diagrams don't match the diagrams. You are never sure if you are doing things correctly. Next to no background is given why you are doing what you are doing.

The good thing about this book is the abundance of very detailed illustrations to help you locate the pressure points. But the style is very, very goofy and dated. The text is written in a breathless style that brings the word "huckster" to mind. It is full of all kinds of far-fetched claims about the wonders of "Acupressure USA!" and supposed case histories of stars that are too big to name, and at least one ridiculous profile of a successful lady ad exec who knocks out skeptical clients with her "huge breasts, long legs and peaches-and-cream complexion". There are also lots of exclamation marks! Then there's the illustration of acupressure techniques to increase your breast size -- ha, ha! Acupressure is a useful technique, but there's too much hype in this book to take it seriously.