The herbal drugstore

The herbal drugstore

This book is another truly fantastic find in the world of herbal medicine! With 610 pages and 712 herbal remedies, the serious herbalist could not find a better stand-alone herbal medicine resource. Authors Linda B. White, MD, HerbsforHealth staff member Steven Foster, and nine other authors—nine highly accredited physicians and medical and herbal professionals—have given the world a new kind of herbal medicine book. Not only will you find a wide range of herbal remedies, but the most common standard medical remedies and advice for the same ailment are also printed alongside them. This allows the reader to compare side by side what they may hear from the primary care physician and mainstream medical professionals, and the less touted information about natural alternatives. I have never seen so much and diverse information in a herbal book. Even my personal favorite herbalist, James A. Duke, Ph.D., author of The Green Pharmacy, reported a rich and worthwhile resource for those who want the safest and best treatments for their most pressing health concerns.

The first section provides the herbalist with all the basics needed to begin herbal medicine definitions, as well as information to help the reader understand, select, create, use, and purchase the necessary herbal remedies. Below is another section that provides an at-a-glance index of listed medicines for each disease included. This section is essentially a condensed version of the next section, which is the main body of the book. It contains all of the authors' known and selected remedies for 98 of the most common medical conditions, arranged alphabetically by disease for easy reference. For each condition, the author includes a brief introduction and definition of the listed condition, a fairly detailed listing of the types and names of the most commonly prescribed medicines, an organized group of herbs and recommended herbal remedies, and some other helpful hints listed throughout. Finally, the authors take a closer look at what they describe as 58 of the most commonly used herbs. For each of the herbs listed, the reader will also find other well-known common names, regional sources, parts used, available forms, uses, and precautions.

Another great discovery for my herbal library,The herbal drugstore(Rodale, ISBN 1-57954-705-2) is indeed one of my new favorites and will without a doubt be one of my most loved and used resources! I would recommend it to any herbalist, regardless of caliber or experience. No other herbal resource I own to date has the amount of information I can get from just this one book. The serious and amateur herbalists should all have a copy of this.