The Chinese Herbalist's Handbook [Paperback]

Dagmar Ehling (Author), Steve Swart (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1566903122 | ISBN-13: 978-1566903127 | Publication Date: April 1997 | Edition: Revised

Designed to make the practice of loose herbs easily accesible to practitioners and students of Chinese medicine, this is a tool for prescribing and modifying loose herbal formulae. Over 500 formulae are organized for easy clinical reference after diagnosis has been made; over 400 individual herbs from traditional categories are organized into clinically relevant subcategories; and over 400 herbs are listed in chart form, enabling the practitioner to easily see important preparation considerations, including cooking needs, cautions about combinations, internal versus external use, special forms of herbs available, toxicity, contraindications and unusual requirements.

Product Details

• Paperback: 765 pages
• Publisher: Inword Pr; Revised edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566903122
• ISBN-13: 978-1566903127
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,577,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Text!, November 26, 2001

By 

Thaddeus Jacobs (Santa Barbara, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Chinese Herbalist's Handbook (Paperback)

Reason 1: Book includes many formulas not found in Bensky and Gamble.
Reason 2: This is one of only a few books that I know of that actually has the correct modern-day dosages for each element contained in the formulas (B&G provide "classical" dosages which are often no longer used in this day and age).
Reason 3: Contains tons of interesting information presented in a variety of formats (for those individuals whos brains function in different ways); including useful tables on various nomenclature for medicinal substances, proper preparation and incompatibilities.
Reason 4: No other text is available with formulae grouped by organ function. Parousal through the different "chapters" stimulates useful and interesting ways of organizing the vast amount of information that exists in the herbal medicine realm.
Reason 5: THE INDEX!!! Perhaps best of all, the extensive index allows you to find formulas faster than any other reference book I have - and I have many.

This book is not recommended, however; for the initial learning of formula functions and modifications (the book is very cursory and weak in this area, but does provide useful essentials such as correct tongue and pulse presentation). If I lost this book, I'd buy another. Enough said.