Legendary Chinese Healing Herbs [Paperback]

Henry C. Lu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 1991

This is a collection of ancient herbal healing techniques which shows how to use the medicinal properties of over 100 herbs that are widely available at health food stores. It includes the scientific and familiar names for each herb with drawings, the ailments they cure plus symptoms, dosages and treatments. Also included are the tales, handed down by the Chinese for centuries, about the healing properties of herbs and the stories of how they were discovered and of the amazing cures.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A practitioner and teacher of traditional Chinese medicine, Lu has chosen as his topic herbs of the Chinese materia medica that are thought to be so powerful that folk legends have grown up around them. He retells these legends and also discusses the therapeutic uses of each herb. Although this book is geared toward a general audience--and although Chinese herbal remedies are very much in vogue among health food advocates--it's unlikely that the average reader will have much recourse to compound decoctions of most of these substances, so this won't be a necessary purchase for most libraries. But it would be an appropriate addition to collections of Chinese medicine, herbalism, or Chinese folklore.
- Judith Eannarino, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (August 8, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806982306
• ISBN-13: 978-0806982304
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,386,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Legendary CHinese Healing Herbs/Henry C. Lu, August 29, 2001

By 

Laurel J. Gonzalez "laurelp52" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Legendary Chinese Healing Herbs (Paperback)

If the index wasn't so horrible, this would be a great book. It is very difficult to find anything. It is not indexed (front or back) by plant names or latin names. No indexation for types of herbs, i.e. upper respiratory, etc. If you can wade through it and make notes on the inside back cover when you actually find something, it's informative.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for Initiates, February 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Chinese Herbal Cures (Paperback)

This book is geared towards readers with more than a basic understanding of Chinese herbs. I grew up taking these medications in one form or another, but could not relate to most of the listed herbs, although botanical information was given. As taking these remedies requires consultation with an expert (an imbalance or contradictory herbs could be fatal), this is not a DIY manual, but more a summary reference publication.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Basics for Beginners, December 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chinese Herbal Cures (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for readers unfamiliar with way TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) works and why. Even though it's a short book, it introduces a lot of the basics. For example, the effects of weather on health. TCM pays a lot more attention to the effects of weather on health than does Western medicine.

Taste of herbs (sweet, sour, bitter, acrid, salty), energy of herbs (Cold, Cool, Neutral, Warm, Hot), and meridians targeted by herbs also is covered. Each herb covered also includes a bit of folklore in order to help readers remember the herb and some of its property.

This is not a book for a student who knows the bare basics and is looking for more detail (such as that provided by Giovanni Maciocia). It is an excellent book for readers unfamiliar with TCM and with TCM's poetic though literal terminology. (The common cold is called Wind Cold Disease in TCM because those are the two "evils" that can bring about a cold.)

It's not a DIY manual. No TCM book is. It is a book that may help you decide if you'd like to consult a trained TCM healer or not, and a little of what to expect if you do.