[.ca] Male Herbal (ISBN 1580911757)

excellent as both an introduction and source guide:
This well written, passionate, grounded book, gives one the tools to begin working with plants, herbs and more importantly one's own body. An expecially useful aspect of this book is the exploration of different physical constitutions. People's bodies are by nature predominantly muscular, digestive, or grounded in the nervous system. James Green obviously draws upon Ayurvedic constitutional typing, but presents it in a more user friendly and western manner. There is a questionaire to help readers determine their constitution, thus their strengths and weaknesses, and, more to the point, which herbs work best for their body type. While an herb such as cayenne may have a great stimulating effect on someone who tends to be sluggish, it may at the same time be too overstimulating for another person who needs more calming and nurturing herbal assistance. This book describes the basics of herbalism, to get one started, and explores in more depth 72 different herbs. I highly recommend it.