Windstone Press

Richard Goodman is the author of the Classical Chinese Medical Texts series of books.

There are so many Chinese medicine books available, some of which are great and others which are…well, not so great. Among a crowded field, there are some valuable books that I believe get lost in the  mix. Here they are:

1. The Practical Application of Meridian Style Acupuncture by Jon Pirog. The author covers a lot of ground with this book. Pirog gives a more classically based look at the functions of the points (for example Xi-cleft and Source points) and the uses for the meridians that fall outside of the category of the ‘regular’ twelve. When selecting points, having as much information about the categories of points beyond what was chosen in the 1950’s in China will go a long way toward more refined treatments.

2. The Complete Stems and Brances: Time and Space in Traditional Acupuncture by Roisin Golding. The stems and branches are, for the most part, ignored in modern Chinese medicine. This is remarkable considering that most of the early medical thought was intricately connected to this system. There are many unique treatment methods that come from this system, all of which I have found to be highly effective in clinical situations. Most importantly, if you really want to have access to the classics, then you cannot ignore the stem and branch system, as classical authors discuss the cosmology behind medicine at least as much as they discuss diagnosis.

3. Shang Han Lun and Other Traditional Formulas: A Clinical Reference by J. Michael Moore. This book looks at formulas from a completely different angle and contains some interesting information on the pschological aspects of formulas. During my first few years in practice, I used this book as my primary reference because I had already studied Dan Bensky’s book so much in school that I couldn’t bear to look at it (I do like his books, however). If you’re looking for something different, find a copy of this hard to find book.

4. Forgotten Traditions of Ancient Chinese Medicine, translated by Paul Unsculd. This is a translation of one of the many works by 18th century physician Xu Da-chun, who is one of my favorite authors in the history of Chinese medicine. Xu is a highly critical thinker who takes nothing at face value and questioned the medical practices of history and his time. I used other writings from Xu in Classical Chinese Medical Texts, and my desire to read his writing in Chinese was one of the motivators for me learning classical Chinese. As of this date, this title is reprinting and used copies are expensive; the list price is 59.99, so don’t get taken. Oh, and the best part is that it includes the Chinese in its original form.

The first two books are readily available on Amazon, but the last two are harder to come by right now.