medicine

Kerry Bone, one of Australia's most eminent herbalists, and Simon Mills, a highly respected practitioner from the UK have joined forces to produce a text that was sorely needed by herbalists and naturopaths everywhere.

The information is concise, clear, up-to-date, gives clear scientific explanations for the actions of herbs, while acknowledging traditional usage and folklore.

This is not just another coffee table book about herbs - it's the real thing. I have completed five years of formal training in herbal medicine, and this has been the most extraordinary book I've encountered. If you are studying complementary medicine of any modality, I highly recommend you buy it. If you're a student or graduate naturopath or herbalist, it is essential.

This book is essential for those seiously interested in herbal medicine. The book begins by explaining various therapeutic systems and basic principles of treatment and safety for the health care professional. Plant compounds and their effects on the body are explained in a straight forward manner that helps one understand a subject that is usually quite difficult. The materia medica section (plant monographs) lists 45 herbs and the pertinent information necessary to use them with success and safety. I believe this book is as good as it gets in herbal medicine, I can't wait for more plant monograph information from Mills and Bone.

Principles and Practice is designed as a text that would accompany a college-level program in the fundamentals of herbal medicine as practiced in the modern British tradition. The authors are senior educators in that system, Mills in Britain and Bone in Australia. This textbook easily meets the scientific standards of a contemporary medical school. Yet it does not slight traditions, and the materia medica sections contain, in addition to an unusually complete scientific review, details of the plants' traditional uses. The therapeutics sections reflect traditional approaches rather than single-bullet modern "scientific" herbalism. The authors collective experience -- more than forty years between the two -- provides balance in the interpretation of the science and the relative importance of hypothetical aspects of toxicology and potential adverse effects.