[.ca] Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies (ISBN 0939616106)

Still the Standard:
Regardless of its very few flaws, this is still the standard reference for basic chinese herbal formulas. Many books have formulas with herbs and dosages, but none speak so extensively of how each herb within the formula works. This is an indispensable tome for the OM student. As for whether the general public will appreciate it, I doubt it. This is the kind of book needed by those who aspire to writing personalized modifications of classical formulas... but no one else except the extremely curious patient will find it worth the price.

No contenders:
The fact that no real contenders have emerged in more than 13 years since this book's publication is sufficient testimony to its quality. Formulas and Strategies is used in virtually every formal program in Chinese herbal medicine in the English-speaking world. It is by no means exhaustive, but it is more than sufficient as basic classroom text, and the quality of the content, while inconsistent, is on balance very high indeed. The book has not been updated in a while, so some information about herb-drug interactions is not reflected here, but there is not enough new information of that sort that its absence detracts in any major way from the book's value as a textbook. Any good teacher will be able to fill in those few blanks, and numerous journal articles have been written about the errors and omissions in Formulas and Strategies. To summarize, there are few errors and omissions for a work of its size, and the ones that are present are minor. Some disagree with Bensky over translational matters, but it should be pointed out that he did provide a glossary of terms as an appendix. It is possible, with some effort, to get back to most of the Chinese terms he has translated. A strength and a weakness of Formulas and Strategies is that Bensky chose, whenever possible, to go back to the original source where each formula first appears in history. This is actually very interesting in some ways and difficult in others, because many formulas have been used in different ways over the course of their history. It would have been nice to see more of that type of information, but the book is already quite large, and it is clear that some editorial decision had to be made. A much larger work would have been too expensive too produce and would not have sold well. Formulas and Strategies has so far stood the test of time admirably. While it would be nice to see more competition in this area, Formulas and Strategies is just the sort of book you like to see in a market that is dominated by just one book. It is much better than it has to be to be the only one out there.

Strategy and Formulas, Dan Bensking:
Is excellente book very usefull for practitionars and for any herbalist one to know about CHM.