Customer Reviews

Chemistry Of Essential Oils Made Simple: GOD'S LOVE MANIFEST IN MOLECULES

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This thorough, easy to read, eloquent book provides an unmistakable glimpse of God's love for each of us as evidenced even in something as tiny as molecules and the basic elements of creation. Scripturally based, Dr. David Stewart's book blends science and religion, chemistry and a deep love for God, in such a way that entertains and inspires, while it educates and answers questions about how essential oils work, why they work, and the profound healing effects available to us through prayer, faith and God-created essential oils. Offering wonderful annecdotes of scientific discovery, an exceptional index, cross-referenced and cross-indexed tables of botanical names, common names, chemical compositions, and much more, this is a must have reference for anyone interested in essential oils.

This is an excellent reference manual for anyone seriously interested in Essential Oils and those willing to study. This is no "airy fairy"new age book on aromatherapy, but he does take the reader from the third dimensional reality (as best we understand it) into the quantum field of "energy" and ultimately into the "Mystery of life," co-incidence, and expanded consciousnous. Masterfully done and it is obvious that this author really loves chemistry. He successfully makes organic chemistry understandable to the lay person while retaining the excitement and enjoyment that organic chemistry and plant physiology holds for those with Universtiy degrees in the subject. His discussion of optical isometry is pure delight. Just wait (if you can) to see what Dill and Spearmint have in common. What you learn from this experience goes far beyond just the study of chemistry. Whatever your religious or spiritual beliefs, don't let the sub-title stop you from this rewarding experience. My personal experience for over 10 years working with therapeutic essential oils has increased my appreciation for this great reference manual and I do use it in my work. He thoroughly understands and teaches the traditional scientific "box" but then leads you beyond the restrictions of this "box" streatching your assumptions to "entertain" the field of all potentialities. You may well undergo your own personal paradigm shift. ENJOY!

I got interested in EOs for the 2nd time in my life a few months ago. The first time, I guess I just "spun out" because I couldn't get a handle on them. This time I was reading, reading, reading, ordering books here on Amazon to gain more information about EOs and it seemed like every oil was good for everything, so I decided it was time to find a class or conference or seminar or something to help me sort through everything.

Thanks to Google, I found one about 100 miles from my home and only a couple of weeks off. The site I found was [...] and David and Lee Stewart are the owners of that website. They listed several seminars on their site - most of which were taught by some of their students, but the one coming up close to me was going to be taught by David and Lee, themselves. I'm thinking this is what I need to do - so I signed up. Two of the books which David wrote were part of the curriculum for the weekend event, so I went ahead and ordered them from Amazon so I could read them before the class. The other book, EOs of the Bible came and I was able to read most of that, but this book, the Chemistry book was on back order. They (the Stewarts) had copies of the book for students to use at the Seminar, so I got to have a book in hand while many references were made to the chemical aspects of EOs.

Okay, I'm not a chemistry student - never had a class in it in my life (how'd I manage to escape that, I have to wonder), so only a few terms were familiar to me, but the class - and also this book - made it clear. He could have named the book EO Chemistry for DUMMIES - and it would have worked for me. The book simplifies the chemical makeup of EOs and makes the "chaotic world" (my words) of EOs simple (ok, simpler) - and you begin to make sense of it all.

I've always been a conceptual learner - so this book and class were just what I needed. When someone tells me to jump, I don't ask "how high" - I ask "why?" He breaks down the majority of EOs down to their chemical constituents and categorizes them as phenols, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and several other categories of lesser significance in terms of their effect on the body. I'll probably never memorize the periodic table, but I understand a lot more about how it works.

I recommend the book highly if you're curiosity is veering off in this direction. The class was good, too, but you can probably get the gist of it from a few hours/days with this book. David and Lee Stewart are YLEO distributors, but you certainly don't have to sign up for this MLM company to benefit from using EOs (I didn't). If you prefer to just ask "how high", then buy Gary Young's (YLEO's founder) Desk Reference for Essential Oils. It is more prescriptive in what oil to use for what purpuse. If you own these two books, you pretty much have all you need to know. Good health to all of you who are looking at the use of EOs as an alternative to allopathic medicine.

David Stewart has degrees in mathematics, physics, and geophysics, but apparently not chemistry, and this book is replete with errors. There are innumerable mis-spellings of the names of chemicals. Saponins do not occur in essential oils, nor do tetraterpenes, and there are simple, basic chemical reasons for this. Terpinen-4-ol is an alcohol, not a phenol, a blunder that most aromatherapists would spot, and bergamotene is a terpene, not a furanocoumarin. Stewart has clearly copied mistakes from other sources, without realizing they were mistakes. l-Limonene is quite often given instead of d-limonene, and methyleugenol has curiously disappeared as an essential oil constituent altogether - it's not mentioned in any of the oils it is actually found in. Furanocoumarins are frequently cited that may indeed be present in the plant but are not found in the essential oil.

Stewart has made a valiant effort to list the components of 113 essential oils, but the method he used - combining data from various books - is highly risky. The end result is said to represent a "typical" essential oil, but is rather hit-and-miss, and in many cases does not represent any existing essential oil at all. Some of the total percentages add up to more than 100%.

Stewart is highly critical of what he calls the "British School" of aromatherapy, because it espouses the idea that some essential oils can be dangerous, and because, according to Stewart, it relies "on scientific research on animals". However, he does take on board the idea that some furanocoumarins are phototoxic. He perhaps does not realize that phototoxicity in essential oils is almost entirely based on RIFM research using pigs and much of the "French" information about essential oil constituents that Stewart cites is based on animal research. If the book was properly referenced, this would be obvious. He also criticizes the British for "usually applying only certain compounds isolated from essential oils rather than the whole oil." It is difficult to fathom from where he plucked this outrageous notion.

There is a massive amount of information here, but there is not a single scientific reference to back up any of it. The book perpetuates the myth that any dangers of essential oils (apart from phototoxicity) only apply to what he calls "perfume grade" oils, which apparently British aromatherapists like to use. I'm not sure then, who buys all the independently certified organic essential oils sold in Britain.

Good effort, mediocre result.

This reference is thorough and wonderful! All the chemistry is easily understandable, and the charts and graphs on essential oils from young living are worth the price of the book alone, not to mention the approach the author takes to teaching basic chemistry (easy to follow, especially for non-students).

I can't describe enough the value of this book, it is far beyond it's purchase price, and amazon offers a great deal too! This book is so great, it's inspired me to teach a class locally about the chemistry and therapeutic benefits of young living essential oils! Way to go Dr. Stewart!

Absolutely Awesome! And of course, the Maker of Heaven and Earth's creation is what the book is all about, so how can you go wrong?

David Stewart is a brilliant man who with such love and care has written a book for us everyday people to really begin to have a comprehensive understanding about the absolute power of therapeutic grade essential oils. I of course will only choose to use Young Living oils which are the finest of the finest oils I have ever used. This book is so helpful to understand how the oils work on the many different levels. God put everything we would ever need for health and longevity in nature and David Stewart's book shows us how!
Thank you!

Dr. Stewart is not chemist, nor knows chemistry so well, therefore he made several errors in this book. Although he collected a lot of information, not all materials are well-reviewed nor verified. His explanation about the transformation of matricin(he calles it matricene) to chamazulen is incorrect, the classification of terpinen-4-ol as phenolic compound is invalid, let alone the false chemical formulas of chamazulen and terpinen-4-ol.

His preaching reduces the professional quality of the book. What a pity ! A book is recommended for beginners and for professionals who has no ideas about chemistry. For those who have good background, it is a good book to pick up information and to verify it on one's own.

As a beginning user of essential oils trying to educate myself, this book was an overwhelming read for me (at nearly 850 pages). I would instead recommend Dr. Stewart's book as an excellent resource book for professionals who work with and educate others about essential oils. (e.g. Licenced Aromatherapists, Raindrop Facilitators, and Aromatherapy Instructors). It is much more of a textbook on the how & why of the Chemistry behind essential oils than which essential oil is good/bad for this or that and how best to use it.

Even for professionals without scientific background, Dr. Steward's book is written in an approchable style, weaving seemingly dry material on the subject of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemotypes, Isoprenes, Terpenes, etc. in with Christian spiritual commentary and insightful stories.

5 stars for professionals. 1 star for the beginner.

I could not put this book down. Finished it in a couple of days. The first section gives even the uninitiated a good understanding of the molecules that work in the essential oils. The second section provides lots of charts, grouping, naming, describing the oils, their constituents and how they are used. The final section is worth working through the first two sections for. Dr. Stewart goes beyond basic chemistry to the ideas of quantum physics and spiritual understanding of what lies behind the mechanics of the molecules. He also gives references and reviews of several other books and studies of other scientists and researchers. This is an excellent book for anyone who loves essential oils and is interested in learning about how God designed them to work!

I have yet to find any book written in English that can replace the exhaustive scientific information available on essential oils in this one. The size of this book may prove formidable to some. If you hated chemistry in school, you may find the scientific chapters breaking down each essential oil's properties tedious. However, the writer is a talented educator and interjects not only appropriate humor but fascinating lore into every paragraph. There are basic chapters on techniques and useage of essential oils, primarily in theory form, but not "recipes" or treatments for specific ailments. The book is prefaced by thorough reviews of most of the competently written, available books on the subject. I would have preferred this material at the back of the book as reference material in order to jump right into the subject. You may wish to take note of that fact and move past those reviews initially. Anyone who intends a thorough understanding of essential oils and essential oil useage MUST read this book as it is a virtual college education on the subject in a manual. Laymen practitioners should read, own and periodically review this book to remain competent in practice. This book is the Merck manual PLUS of Essential Oils, IMHO.