The Honest Herbal [Hardcover]

Virginia Tyler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1560242868 | ISBN-13: 978-1560242864 | Publication Date: June 17, 1993 | Edition: 1

This work offers accurate information on over 100 of the most commonly used herbs and their therapeutic and medicinal use. Now in its third edition, "The Honest Herbal" continues to present essential botanical information and folklore uses of herbal remedies in language that can be easily understood by a wide variety of readers. This straightforward book is valuable at a time when more misinformation regarding the efficacy of herbs is being placed before consumers that at any previous time, including the turn of the century heyday of patent medicines. In 1990 alone, health food stores sold $94.2 million worth of literature to customers, much of it pertaining to herbal remedies. "The Honest Herbal" is written by an experienced health professional and it presents a serious evaluation of both the positive and the negative features of the use of various herbs for therapeutic purposes. This book begins with chapters on the general rational and irrational use of herbs and the complex laws and regulations pertaining to their sale in the United States. The entries cover many of the most commonly used herbs and related medicines and provide useful botanical information, descriptions of traditional folk uses of each herb and detailed discussions of the safety and therapeutic effectiveness of the remedy. Concluding each entry is a final value judgement on the safety and validity of each herb's therapeutic use. The closing chapter provides a handy table of the essential facts on all the herbs covered, and the principal uses and a concise estimate of the effficacy and safety of each herb. "The Honest Herbal" is referenced extensively throughout, and each entry includes a bibliogrpahy to aid more detailed study of the herbs and their effects. "The Honest Herbal" enables herbal enthusiasts and health care professionals to evaluate for themselves the usefulness of herbs for therapeutic purposes and then make informed decisions about investments in herbs for medicinal use. The handy summary tables assist in the rapid retrieval of facts. The accessible descriptions, the non-technical discussion of the chemistry, pharmacology, active principals of the drug, and particularly the author's over-all evaluation of the herbs' practical uses, makes this a valuable reference.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: Informa Healthcare; 1 edition (June 17, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560242868
• ISBN-13: 978-1560242864
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,205,320 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An overly pessimistic herbal review, April 13, 1999

By 

S. Isaacs (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Honest Herbal (Hardcover)

From the evidence presented in this book, Varro Tyler is the Eeyore (or Jiminy Cricket?) of modern herbalists. His reviews of herbs range from lukewarm to scathing. For example, echinacea squeaks by regarded only as "a plant drug that is deserving of continued attention by scientists and clinicians." Chickweed, on the other hand, receives such a bad review that you wonder if Tyler himself was ever personally injured by it. (In his review, he calls it a "weed," a four-letter word to most herbalists.) Generally, his writing is clinical and unsanguine. To his credit, he does present evidence that separates effective herbs from lesser ones, and most importantly, from dangerous ones. By his own admittance, he errs on the side of safety and conservatism -- too much. Equipped only with Tyler's book, a beginning herbalist would consider the healing power of plants with a skepticism and dependence on clinical data far too austere for the realm of herbalism. This is not the place to start such study, but it is a good adjunct and a devil's advocate for the naive and wide-eyed experienced herbalist.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Medical Review of Herbs, December 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Honest Herbal (Hardcover)

The book is well written, easy to read, and it identifies what has been learned through repeatable scientific means about many herbal substances. In each case the active ingredients are identified, how they work within the body, and what they can be expected to do or not do. Suggestions about dosages are also given, as well as warnings when the substances have been shown to have negative side effects. He presents no axe to grind, does not attack anyone, but only presents the results of medical research into herbs in a clearly accessible format. The book has plenty of references for additional reading, and I found it to be excellent.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Honest? No way., December 19, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Honest Herbal (Hardcover)

This is the most dishonest books on herbs I have ever seen, and I don't believe I will ever see anything to top it - unless Tyler exerts himself again, that is. He writes things like 'Self-treatment with hawthorn is neither advocated nor condoned', when hawthorn is one of the most benign plants there is; another of the truly unlikely statements is 'Unfortunately, ginseng remains a medical enigma with no proven efficacy for humans.' - this from a professor of pharmacognosy, the study of plant constituents? Tyler must not have thought a lot when he wrote this book, and he must have used his head even less when he proofread it. No, truly, leave this book where it belongs - on the shelf of the publisher's warehouse. Go buy a good book about herbs instead - you'll find there's a lot of them, but Tyler's aren't it.