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52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Bible of Acupuncture!!!, December 21, 2001
This review is from: A Manual of Acupuncture (Hardcover)
At last! This book is not a manual of acupuncture, it is THE manual. Students of TCM, don't let the price tag intimidate you, and let me assure you that it is worth every penny. This hefty and handsome volume leaves nothing unsaid, and meticulously provides detailed information, plenty of informative quotes from a wealth of classical sources, and is a joy to handle, browse, and read from. Of particular interest and value are the sections which describe the special point groupings, because they not only provide the lists of points which belong to these categories, but also systematized and coherent explanations behind the workings of cleft-xi, yuan-source, luo-connecting, and many other point categories. Also of great value are the commentaries pertaining to each individual point, because they describe relationships and important pointers regarding the workings of each individual point, how their use and indications developed through history, and other tidbits of information which will open new avenues of investigation and application for astute students and practitioners. The commentaries on the points provide not only information, but are written in a lucid prose, the style of which aids memorization and learning of important information. The point location information is accurate, albeit in a few cases too brief, in my opinion. The illustrations are very detailed and actually useful (unlike in other texts) in locating the points. The notes and cautions on needling of points in sensitive areas are placed where they are readily visible, and provide information on the local anatomy of the point, and what the consequences of inappropriate insertion could be. There are charts which show major points per anatomical region (which are actually legible and understandable), and indexes aplenty: pinyin and chinese point names, english point names, and a particularly interesting point indications index. There is also a Glossary of the Wisemanese-seeming terminology used by the authors, which although similar to that of A Practical Dictionary, is not exactly the same.
Should you buy this book? ABSOLUTELY!!! You will never need another acupoint book, EVER. There is a companion set of Point cards by the same authors, which uses the same illustrations and a summary of point information based on the contents of the book. One word of advice, though: if it stays standing on the shelf for too long, the pages tend to sag. However, given the amount of use this book has, that's unlikely to happen.
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59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than Chinese Texts, March 30, 2003
This review is from: A Manual of Acupuncture (Hardcover)
This is the only text that I have on the subject of acupuncture. I am not a practitioner, but had hoped that this one (expensive) text would be sufficient to give me a total foundation in the discipline and would eventually allow me to use acupressure or some rudiments of the field in my own efforts to promote good health. I was a little dissappointed that the introductory and foundational material was lacking in the book, and that there were no separate sections on diagnosis or expositions of the nature of pathogens. The book is essentially a description of each and every one of the 360 or so primary acupuncture points of Traditional Chinese Medicine. There is a good bit of material about methodology of point selection, but the real gem of this book is the intelligent and thorough descriptions of the points, their properties, and how to locate and needle them. The reason that I gave the book five stars is that it is far more complete and logical in its point descriptions than any of the Chinese texts used by my acupuncturist, a Chinese chiropractor who was a medical doctor Shanghai for eight years before coming to the US and becoming a chiropractor. Often when a discipline is translated from one language and culture to another, the highly systematized translation is more complete and sensible than the eclectic literature corpus upon which it is based. Those who devised this book have created a phenomenally comprehensive synthesis of over 3,000 years of Chinese medical tradition. They have taken on a monumental task and succeeded brilliantly. The quality of this reference is so high that I would even recommend it to practitioners from the orient who are coming to the US or other English-speaking countries to start a practice. First, it will it help them learn the English vocabulary of acupuncture jargon and help them understand our butchered pronunciations of the many Chinese words in an English acupuncturist's vocabulary. Second, they will be able to better communicate their activities to their patients. Finally, the book is as high a quality reference as anything they will have brought with them from Asia.
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST HAVE BOOK!!!!, April 2, 2002
This review is from: A Manual of Acupuncture (Hardcover)
Peter Deadman et. al. have really hit the nail on the head with this book. It is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful and functional books of acupuncture points on the market! The drawings illustrating the points are wonderful!!! There is a reason this is a reference for the NCCAOM! The Manual starts off describing the channels and collaterals, point categories ( luo connecting, xi cleft, eight influential, etc) and does a really nice, concise job of explaining the function of the points. Point selection methods are discussed (local, distal, point combos, cross needling etc.) and then point location and needling (cun measurements, needle angles, depth, surface anatomy, precautions, etc). There is a nice chart of the Meeting Points of the Channels and drawings illustrating the cutaneous regions. I can't stress how incredible the drawings are...clear, concise, easy to see where the point is in relation to bone, tendons, and/or musculature. The descriptions of the points aren't limited to the usual functions and indications, but delve into the logic behind the uses for points. There are references to classical literature, such as the Spiritual Pivot and Essential Questions, which are used to explain the classical reasoning behind point application. My favorite of all my dozens of books on acupuncture. If you never buy another book, this one is the last one to get...or the first!
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