Acupuncture Books

This is the book we got with our basic massage course in school. The chapters on massage were good, but there wasn't enough anatomy detail so I bought another one that covered it more adequately. I would highly recommend "Trail Guide to the Body" - it was even better than the anatomy coloring book they issued to us.

It contains amazing infomation, only spoilt by the translation of the good doctor's English, this was one DVD I would have prefered to have had subtitled.
I found it very frustrating.

This book is an excellent resource for people who do not want to be duped by "alternative" medicine peddlers. I see all the negative reviews by the AltMed merchants. As usual, they do not offer specific rebuttals; because they cannot. Some of them whine about Stephen Barrett (MD) who was not the author! Get a clue.

A Consumer's Guide to "Alternative" Medicine belongs in every library.

You can't have 'alternative' biology and 'alternative' physics, but yet the Cult of 'Alternative' medicine seems to think they are immune to scientific analysis, empirical testing, facts and all those other "nuances" that get in the way of their faith.

I see the majority of the reviews come from this Cult of true believers who no doubt found this searching for more scripture to preach to them. "What's this? Something that goes against my preconceived notions? Blasphemy!"

In actuality this book is NOT an attack-piece. It is a series of findings compiled by licensed professionals taken from well-documented, peer-reviewed, established sources such as JAMA and many other medical journals who used methods such as double-blind testing and chemical analysis to reach their conclusion. You see in science, the conclusion comes AFTER the research. This is the fatal flaw in the 'alternative' medicine field: much like with so called 'Christian' science, they have established the conclusion first and then seek to bend the 'evidence' to reach their pre-conceived end. (i.e. The Earth is only 600 years old this is why carbon-dating MUST be inaccurate). That is, of course, when they even ATTEMPT to use science to explain their outrageous beliefs. More often than not 'alternative' health is based on secondary sources (my friends mother swears the blood of a virgin cured her hangnail!) or ancient scripture (what worked in 16th century rural Asia MUST be better than today because those Asians were SO in tune with their bodies and so mystical and wise!) and ignores all evidence to the contrary (hangnails clear up naturally and 16th century rural Asia wasn't the healthiest place to be.)

Unfortunately this belief has permeated into society and has gotten away with a lot of fraud and false-hope by becoming an unquestioned 'alternative' to serious treatment. The book focuses in on how this developed as well as what causes a person to accept the irrational claims made by 'alternative' medicine con artists like Deepak Chopra and Andy Weil. The information in this book can be a great source of knowledge and comfort for any person who is seeking a truthful and honest look at alternative medicine and finds themselves awash in a sea of new age health books written with no sources or references and 'alternative' health gurus and self-proclaimed 'doctors' who speak like children and never back anything up.

The author, a de-licensed psychiatrist, wrote this book with no qualificatiosn whatsoever. He has no understanding or education in alternative medicine. The book is merely the rant of an uneducated dimwit. Given the author's lake of qualifications, it is not surprising that the content lacks any evaluation of actual treatment. The fact that Psychiatry and traditional medicine has been under fire for some time for its ineefectiveness is completely un-addressed. The book's content is so malicious particularly in that it attempts to keep people who need effective altnerative medicine from getting it. If you really need to learn about altnerative medicince I wouldn't bother with this book.

Barrett has no qualifications to judge alternative medicine. He is clearly a lobbyist for the status quo. If you are interested in alternatives, you will not get any useful information here.

To summarize the book in one sentence: Every medical approach that is not based on traditional western midicine is by default bad or suspicous.

This author is obviously very well versed in alot of material as you know from everything he has written. He remarks that he will only use from acupuncture what is real and forget the hocus/pocus. I feel that Mr Chaitow highly underestimates the powers of acupuncture medicine. I am a western trained physician who has just trained in this ancient wonderful world of acupunture. There is no methodical or conceptual description for point selection, but a mere lists of points for pain in areas of the body. For headaches-points A,B & C. For backpain--points X,Y & Z, etc. I have no regrets in the purchase, but I like it only to supplement my other material.

I checked this book out from the library. I was impressed with charts and specific points that are not described in other books. Talks about type of needle, time, and in general everything you want to know. Has meridian, point reference, Chinese name, anatomical position, depth of insertion, and any special notes you should know. Excellent reference material. I check things out thourghly before I buy. You can't go wrong w/this book. I'm purchasing this for myself now.......

I am a student of Acupuncture currently working on a BSc degree in Oriental Medicine and bought this book for a research project on Acupuncture and Pain Management. Even though the author is a practiving Doctor of Naturopathy as well as Osteopathy, he has very little insight into Acupuncture. He calls TCM theory and diagnisis - which is the basis of successful Acupuncture - "antiquated Chinese mythology". Page 9 reads: "I (the authhor) maintain that much of what traditional acupuncturists hold to be true consists of theories and quaint explanations steeming from Chinese mythology and antiquity. The value of these to an age not versed in modern scientific terminology is obvious." One the same page ee also remarks that "Myths and antique phraseology are often perpetuated as a result of an inability to see what is real in the vast literature that has grown around this subject...". No TCM diagnosis is applied, no point selections guidelines are given, no treatment formulas suggested. The title of this book is misleading. It should be called "sticking a needle where it hurts - a guide for the ignorant".

The Art of Palpatory Diagnosis in Oriental Medicine by Skya Gardner-Abbate could have been a great idea if the information was true to the title or accurate as a whole. Oriental Medicine is not only Chinese and Japanese acupuncture and moxibustion as emphasized in this book, it includes Korean styles of acupuncture, Thai massage, Vietnamese folk medicine and much more. The author of this book constantly mentions Japanese acupuncture or "Japanese physical exam". Unfortunatly there is no such thing as one Japanese form of acupuncture or a "Japanese physical exam". There are over 150 different styles of Japanese acupuncture thus probably as many examination techniques. It is wrong to have the reader beleive that there is such a thing as "Japanese acupuncture" per se. In the book the reader will find inaccuracies and simply wrong material such as on page 157 the author claims that "the first evaluation within the Japanese physical exam is that of the inner thigh compression." I wonder what the Toyo Hari group of acupuncture have to say about that. Dr. Manaka, Master Kawai, Ito and Fukaya (all prominent Japanese acupuncturists developing their own unique style) certainly do not agree. Also on page 118 the author states that the Nan Ching (a source text for acupuncturists) "characterizes the healthy navel as deep and well shaped..." Unfortunately the Nan Ching does no such thing. There is no reference in the Nan Ching about the healthy shape of the navel. This goes on numerous times, more than I care to mention here. The important issue here is that the author does not check her sources, does not care to be specific about where the information comes from and evidently has never studied or observed acupuncture in Japan. Last but not least this book is written like a text book for a course in college with sections that explain rather simple words (like "stress", "tension", etc.) that every average acupuncturist should know and then gives litle tests that require the reader to repeat what has been written - All in all not professional. Readers please read carefully and with discrimination.

It is important to understand that there are many different styles of classically oriented acupuncture that have been developed by Japanese masters. While they are all different, they do all share several commonalities, the most important being that they all derive their diagnostic information first and foremost from palpatory information - i.e. information that can be felt through informed touch. In that sense, the title of this book is correct to convey that basic essence of Japanese palpatory styles of acupuncture. But beyond that, this book leaves me very confused.
I have studied 4 distinct palpatory styles of Japanese acupuncture (including styles developed by Manaka, Sawada, Hukaya, Kiiko Matsumoto, Nagano and the Toyohari style). This book does reflect any of those styles accurately. It appears to reflect a very poor and confused interpretation of Kiiko Matsumoto's style.
All students of Japanese styles of acupuncture are always very careful to credit their masters and their lineage. This book does a fundamental disservice to that tradition by not indicating where the authour has derived her information. Much of the material in this book, I have NEVER seen anywhere and I am left to wonder if she developed it all herself.
The publisher should be more careful in the future and ensure that the books it publishes are properly referenced.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. I believe that you can see Skya's education background in the way the material is presented clearly, with well defined topic areas. It is well designed as a "how to" text.
I found the abdominal clearing section of the book to be the gem. Although there may be a lack of understanding of where the material came from, effectiveness is the measure of truth, and it works. It is also presented clearly enough for most practitioners to understand.
This is not a book for the person who is all ready trained in Japanese methods but is perfect for the TCM practitioner who wants to expand their thinking by using palpation as another diagnostic and treatment modality.

I found this book to be informative, easily read and understood and written with a helpful positive outlook.

Hi,
I haven't recieved this item yet.
Satya

If it looks like a Duck ... and walks like a Duck ... it probably has a lot of quack in it. Worsley and his entire legacy have given us a distorted view on TCM. A white man's view to be totally honest, right down to hugely over analysing a construct which he clearly did not understand, he couldn't have understood. If you want to waste your time with guesses and questionable lineage, go to J.R. If you want to get the truth, get the 15$ Chinese books with something valid to say.

J.R. Worsley presents an excellent reference for acupuncture students, clinicians, and enthusiasts everywhere. Very clearly presented and well illustrated.

This book was the most absolute boring pile of junk I've ever set eyes on in my life just about.
If you still wanna buy it, suit yourself.

As an acupuncturist, I was incredibly interested in acquiring this book, because I want to "percieve the energy pathways of the body". Unfortunately, after reading more than half of the book, I did not glean one bit of useful information.

If you are interested in the fabulous work of Rich Phaigh, look for his four video set with four workbooks, entitled, "The Treatment of Pain," or "The Onsen Technique." These sold from ads in massage magazines in the 90's. The material in these videos and workbooks is indespensable. I no longer own the videos, but I would like to find copies. I own the workbooks, which were handed out during his four workshops which I attended. Rich also published four articles in Massage Therapy Journal, which can be found through their website author index, and he was interviewed with his bold face across the cover of Massage magazine in May/June 95.

As a beginning TCM student, I was looking for a reference on the order of Worsley's (hard to find) Traditional Chinese Acupuncture. I ordered this "Atlas" sight unseen, and was rather disappointed.

The plates are a bit small to be as precise as I would like, especially for the feet. The book is arranged according to body area rather than channels (which I find frustrating for learning purposes). Not all of the appropriate points are shown on the expected plates. The written descriptions are in a different section of the book than the plates, so comparing them is unecessarily inconvenient.

Also, the nice little prescription section in the back lists points only by their pinyin name. There's no alphabetical cross reference, so they are pretty darn hard to find unless you know them already by pinyin name.