Customer Reviews

Classical Chinese Medical Texts: Learning to Read the Classics of Chinese Medicine (Vol. I)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For years, I've been halfheartedly studying Chinese so that I could read something interesting. Each time I take up the practice again, I find myself learning words like window, car or vegetable. With what Mr. Goodman has produced with this book, I will be able to read something worthwhile within months rather than years. The publisher provides free audio files on their website for people like me who need to listen while they read, which has been a great help in getting through the entire book. This is the book the Chinese Medicine community has been needing and I'm looking forward to the second volume already. Buy this book and use it, and you will be glad you did.

I picked this book up a few weeks ago through the authors website. It's been really helpful in some of the work I'm doing now. It's written by a North American who graduated acupuncture school and sometime later did what many of us want to do and a few of you have done, namely transported themselves to China to learn more Chinese medicine and particularly the language.

This book is a small educational text on reading Classical Chinese Medical language. What makes it especially nice is that it is very well designed and easy to understand. One can see how he transported notes of his studies into this book format. It's not especially ambitious and that perhaps is its greatest strength. Goodman knows what it takes to learn this material and he doesn't try to teach you everything nor is the book dumbed down. This book is really made for a person like the author which is also to say a person like me and perhaps you too... someone wanting to read ancient medical Chinese but can get overwhelmed and confused at the task ahead.

Douglas Eisenstark taiqi.com

I own every book on Chinese medical language available, and this one exceeds the others by far. If your goal is to really get into the classics and read Chinese medical texts, then you can't miss this book.

Everyone from beginners who are highly motivated to those with some knowledge of Chinese will benefit from this book. I had always hoped I would be able to gain the necessary skills to tackle classical Chinese medical texts, and this book has provided me with those.

I only wish the book was a little longer, and almost took away one star because of this. However, after reading through it briefly once, I found that the author covered so much detail in this work that adding more would be overwhelming for beginners. Everything you need to build a great foundation in ancient medical texts is here. Buy this book!

Richard L. Goodman has provided a wonderful and badly needed book that gives the first really useful and practical introduction to classical medical Chinese.

In addition to the carefully graded text, starting simply and then building up, Goodman provides clear and beautifully concise textual notes, easy to understand grammatical points and typically used character patterns that will soon have the reader actually reading and understanding selections from ancient texts.

Goodman also takes the trouble to note sticking points, something many authors gloss over in Chinese language books, for example Goodman takes the trouble to note the slight difference in appearance between "yue" (to say) and "ri" (sun). It is sometimes just this extra bit of work that can make all the difference for the harried (and sometimes hurried!) language learner. Also, in explaining various grammatical points, for example the Chinese way of saying "its", Goodman not only explains the use of the Chinese character to express this meaning in a totally clear and easy to understand manner, but he actually includes several example sentences to drive home the point. Needless to say, the example sentences include the Chinese characters, pinyin readings and English translation. Like everything else in the book, he has done it right!

Unlike some books I've seen that don't bother to put the accents over their hastily added pinyin, Goodman of course includes these and it is obvious that every aspect of the book has been carefully thought out to ease the journey for those interested in reading classical Chinese language texts so that it becomes a pleasant walk in the hills instead of a perilous climb in the Himalayas!

There is only one other author whose classical Chinese Intros I like better and that is Creel and his "Literary Chinese by the Inductive Method" volumes, which, despite using Wade-Giles romanization, are outstanding.

I have mastered volume 1 and I am now half way through volume 2. I bought the character work book, and mastered the vocabulary. I am now pecking my way through reading Chinese medical language, and my skills are improving exponentially every day.

These are the best books on the subject. With diligence and hard work, these books make it possible to open the doors to the Chinese classics.

I hope there will be a volume 4!

Thanks to Mr. Goodman for pursuing this topic. As a practitioner of this medicine, his book presents material without a bias. He makes no attempt to "interpret" the information, just using plain grammar to discuss the concepts. One can pick up the format quickly and it is easy to follow along. As long at you take the time to memorize the vocabulary, this book is quick and easy.

I definitely recommend this book, I never would have imagined the ease and relative success this program offers for even the non-Chinese speaker. I found that with repetition and review I really was recognizing and reading Chinese characters as opposed to skipping the Chinese and opting for the translation, this adds layers and depth into understanding the original texts. I love this opportunity and am amazed at it's accessibility. For all serious students who have the courage to take the next step. Enjoy